


Craig Tucker's Secret Boyfriend

by paper_ange



Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, actor tweek is here too, au where tweek is the new kid, boxer tweek is canon, craig is a useless homosexual, i love my baby boy but he is a toughie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-02-01 16:31:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 57,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12708708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paper_ange/pseuds/paper_ange
Summary: Rumor has it that Craig has a secret boyfriend who doesn’t live in South Park. When the boy from the Asian girls’ artwork finally moves to the town, Craig decides to see what kind of person he is. Needless to say, fighting him won’t be a good idea.





	1. Craig x ???

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU where Tweek and Craig have never met, but the yaoi artwork still exists. Get ready for some badass Tweek!

The students of South Park High School were gathered in the gymnasium for a presentation by Wendy Testaburger, a member of the student council. She stood behind a podium with a smile as she straightened out her note cards. Behind her was a projector screen with the words “celebrate our Asian-American students” on a yellow, rectangular background.

Loud chatter filled the gym as the students waited for something to happen. Like everyone else, Craig kept himself busy by discussing a plan to play a co-op game of Counterstrike with Token, who was seated to his right. He made the extra effort to keep the conversation going to prevent himself from looking lonely, which might lead to Stan or Kyle starting a conversation with him, two people that he didn’t really like speaking to. He especially didn’t want them to be a part of his plan. The chatter ceased once the principal spoke up, though fear struck the crowd quickly when he shouted at a girl named Leslie to shut up. Craig glanced over at Leslie with a curious look. Anyone who could continue to test the principal’s patience, especially after watching him “discipline” Cartman by smashing his body into mirrors and walls, was a complete mystery to him.

Wendy began her presentation by discussing the new Asian girls that had recently transferred and their artwork. She switched to the next slide, which contained the word “yaoi” and Japanese characters on a white background with a large pink flower. The fact that the word was unknown to Craig piqued his interest, though he decided to ignore it. Spacing out during presentations was what he was known to do, and this was going to be another one of those times. That is, until he saw the next slide.

There was a collection of “awws” heard from the girls, though the boys were all in shock. But no one was more in shock than Craig. He sat up and leaned forward in his seat with wide eyes, ignoring the confused stares from his friends and classmates.

“Dude, what the fuck?!” he said aloud. A million thoughts raced through his mind, but the most prominent one was, “who the fuck is that guy?”

The image depicted him, or someone who looked exactly like him, locking lips with a boy with blonde, spiky hair. He tried to recall all the blondes that he knew, but none of them had hair as wild as this guy’s. In fact, he hasn’t seen anyone who looked like that in his life, so why were Asian girls drawing him being gay with a stranger?

“Hey, um… What’s this about?” Token whispered, but Craig ignored him. He didn’t have to look at the other guys’ expressions because he knew that they were all staring at him. He could feel it. Wendy’s slideshow became more and more unbearable to look at with every new slide that he covered his face throughout the rest of the presentation. Not that he cared if he was exposed to explicit images as a 15-year-old, but these were incredibly embarrassing, seeing how he was the main star in all of them. He wanted to die. If this guy existed and was actually the reason why the Asian girls drew them together, he would beat the fuck out of him.

 

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for rumors to spread. “Craig Tucker has a secret boyfriend that doesn’t live in South Park”. By lunchtime, the whole school had already heard it. Craig did his best to keep a low profile until he met with the Asian girls, but he was stopped constantly by his female classmates.

“Craig, who was that guy? Is that your boyfriend?”

“You were gay this entire time, Craig! That’s so disappointing, yet still so cute!”

“I’ve never seen that guy before, Craig! Does he live outside of town?”

Craig picked up his pace to avoid any more annoying questions regarding him and that stranger, and he made sure to steer clear from any of the guys until after he spoke with the Asian girls. He spotted them on the staircase in a large group, and every one of them were busily scribbling away in their sketchbooks.

“Excuse me, but what the hell is this?!” Craig demanded, holding up a piece with him happily pushing the blonde stranger on a swing.

Though they were aware of his presence, the girls chatted away excitedly in their native languages. A girl with cat ears pointed at the drawing, and a girl in a light blue dress grinned and nodded, which Craig assumed that this had to be her work.

“Uh, hello? Any of you speak English?”

“Sorry!” the girl in the blue dress apologized. “Is something wrong?”

Her comment struck a nerve, but Craig managed to keep his cool. Yelling at girls would destroy his chances at ever dating one after this fiasco, even if said girl was drawing him in ways that will make anyone think that he was gay. Besides, Craig Tucker doesn’t lose control of his emotions. That was the image he tried to portray, even when there were many times where he wanted to scream at someone for crossing him. But that wasn’t the point. He had to find out why these girls were drawing him in these situations and who the hell the blonde guy was.

“Uh, what’s wrong? Maybe the fact that you’re making everyone think that I’m gay?”

The girls stared questioningly at him for a moment, then they turned to each other, speaking in their native languages once again. Craig was beginning to lose his patience. He walked closer to the girls to make his presence known again.

“At least tell me who this guy is,” he said, pointing at the boy in the drawing. The girls only giggled and showed off their sketches to one another. Unsurprisingly, they had drawn more of Craig and the blond, which made Craig resort to taking long, deep breaths. Tired of the language barrier, Craig finally stormed off, but not before crumpling up the drawing and throwing it in the trash can.

 

* * *

 

With an angry sigh, Craig dropped his tray of food onto his usual lunch table and shoved Clyde aside so he didn’t have to walk all the way around. Instead of getting angry, Clyde showed a worried expression, placing a hand on Craig’s shoulder. From the other side of the table, Token and Jimmy only stared at Craig, unable to bring up the previous event.

“If you’re worried about us thinking any less of you, we totally don’t,” Clyde assured. “But…”

Craig groaned loudly. He channeled all of his anger into his facial expression and directed it at Clyde, but Clyde’s determination to be the supportive best friend kept him from breaking into tears. That, and unless Craig was actually hitting him, Clyde had already gotten used to his friend’s glaring.

“But what,” Craig spat. He had no reason to take out his anger on Clyde, who he could tell was trying to be supportive, but he was not in the mood to discuss this topic any further. His interaction with the Asian girls left a bitter taste in his mouth, mainly because he learned absolutely nothing about their intentions.

“I’m kind of hurt, you know? I’m your best friend, but you didn’t even tell _me_ that you had a secret boyfriend. That’s not cool, you know.”

“Yeah, dude,” Jimmy chimed in. “We wouldn’t have made fu-fu-fun of you.”

Token sat quietly, though he was interested in the direction the conversation was going. He, too, wanted to know about Craig’s secret boyfriend and why he’s never heard of him.

“So you wanna hear my side of the story, huh?” Craig said, sitting up straight and removing Clyde’s hand from his shoulder. “Well, listen up, since I’m going to say something that’ll conflict everything that’s happened today.”

The guys leaned forward silently, curiosity sparkling in their eyes. Craig found the unwavering attention to be uncomfortable, but he dismissed the feeling with a sigh.

“I have no idea who that guy is.”

“Huh?!” Clyde said a little too loudly, gaining the attention of some of the boys nearby. He pulled out one of the pieces of artwork from his backpack, which showed Craig and the other boy gazing into each other’s eyes as flower petals fell around them. “So you don’t actually know this guy?” He pointed at the blond repeatedly, practically jabbing at the picture.

“I’ve never seen him in my life,” Craig admitted. “And why the hell do you have that? Get rid of it!”

“Sorry,” Clyde apologized, but rather than doing what Craig asked, he placed the drawing in a folder and carefully pushed it back into his bag. This didn’t go unnoticed by Craig, but he decided not to address the issue. Unfortunately, since Clyde’s outburst caught the attention of others, Craig was approached by more people with questions about what he had said.

“So if you don’t know the guy, then why are those girls drawing pictures of you two together?” Stan asked, making his way over along with his gang and Butters.

“Maybe he likes you, and they’re all friends with him, and they think you guys would look good together!” Butters suggested. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

 _That makes a lot of sense, actually,_ Craig thought, and the others seemed to be thinking the same thing. If this was true, then there was a guy out there who knew him and had a creepy enough crush on him that would prompt those girls to draw them the way they did. Whoever this guy was, Craig definitely was going to interrogate him.

“Wait, what if they know a guy that likes me, and suddenly there’s a bunch of pictures of me making out with him?” Clyde panicked. “I’m not gay, you guys!”

“That will never happen,” Craig quickly interjected with the intention of subtly insulting him, though the others didn’t think the idea was that unreasonable. They all gave each other looks of suspicion and worry.

 

* * *

 

On his way home, Craig attracted the attention of almost every citizen of South Park that he walked past, all of which either smiled at him, happily gushed about his “relationship” with their friends, or gave him a thumbs up.

“Someone’s popular,” Clyde commented. The two were neighbors, so they always walked home together. Token always had someone drive him and Jimmy home. He offered to take Craig and Clyde, but Clyde wanted to start losing weight through sports and exercise so people wouldn’t call him the second fattest kid anymore. Craig on the other hand just liked walking around outside. He found it relaxing.

“Not for the right reasons,” Craig mumbled. He tried glaring at people and flipping them off as an attempt to intimidate them, but it never worked. They were all too happy to see a young gay person in South Park for some reason. Probably for the sake of being politically correct, which happened to be some sort of trend that took over the small little mountain town at the moment.

Craig’s house was the one they reached first, but Craig had stopped in his tracks. Wondering why he hadn’t turned to walk to his front door, Clyde gave Craig a questioning look.

“Shit…” Craig cursed, his face forming into a scowl.

“What’s wrong?”

Craig glanced at his house for a moment, then to the snow that sat neatly on top of the grass, his scowl changing into a look of uneasiness. What was his father going to say when he walked through the door? They’ve never actually spoken of it, but his father’s view of homosexuals was… not the best. Under his household, Craig was supposed to uphold the image of masculinity. Being tough and getting into fights not only were things that his father didn’t mind, but he actually encouraged them. He allowed Craig to have a pet to learn about responsibility, though Craig would never let his father see him use baby-talk on the guinea pig or make any sort of reaction that would make him appear “soft”. Needless to say, if his father saw pictures of him kissing some guy, things were probably not going to end well.

“Nothing,” Craig sighed, leaving Clyde without a goodbye as he trudged through the snow to his front porch, despite there being a perfectly good sidewalk right next to him. Clyde opened his mouth to comment, but he then shut it when he realized that he wasn’t going to get anything out of Craig.

 

* * *

 

The house was the same as usual: fairly quiet, save for the faint sound of his 10-year-old sister’s pop music playing in her room. Avoiding his parents seemed like a good idea, so he walked up the stairs and headed towards his room. Upon hearing Craig’s footsteps, Tricia called out to him. Craig stood at the top of the steps as she ran towards him.

“Come with me,” she commanded, gripping her brother’s wrist tightly and dragging him into her room. Normally, his sister would ignore him, so the sudden change in behavior caused Craig to go along with whatever she had planned.

He noticed that the music was much louder and much more annoying upon entering her room. Tricia picked up a pink folder and opened it, revealing yet another piece of artwork of Craig and the stranger. Craig groaned at the sight of it.

“Where the hell did you get this?” he asked, making sure to use a tone that showcased his annoyance. He really was getting tired of seeing all this artwork, but he never seemed to be in the mood to throw a fit about it.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tricia replied. “I wanna know who this guy is. Never seen him before. Are you dating him?”

“Look, I honestly don’t know that guy. I’m trying to find that out myself, but the girls drawing these pictures won’t tell me. I tried asking them, but they kept talking in a bunch of languages that I didn’t understand.”

Tricia tossed the folder on her bed and sat next to it.

“Better do something about it before Dad finds out,” she advised, actually appearing concerned for her brother for once. “I don’t think he’s fond of gays.”

Craig shoved his hands into his jacket pockets with a huff.

“Now I’m actually really pissed off,” he muttered. “If this guy’s real, he’s probably some fucking stalker or something. My life is falling apart because of some dude that may or may not even be real. What the fuck is going on? Seriously…”

“If you ever meet him, let me know. I wanna watch you kick his ass,” Tricia grinned, suddenly hyped about the possibility of seeing a fight. Craig just rolled his eyes at her and headed for the door.

“Then again,” she suddenly spoke up. Craig stood at the doorway, but he continued to face the same direction.

“What?”

“Maybe you don’t have to beat him up,” she said, focusing her attention on her pigtail rather than her brother.

“I mean, I was going to interrogate him first,” Craig explained, turning to Tricia. “I wasn’t just going to show up in front of him and just start punching him. I mean, what if he doesn’t know that this is happening? Dude’s just gonna start seeing himself making out with a stranger and want to get the hell out of this shitty town. Damn, now I feel kind of bad for him.”

“Oh, I was just going to tell you to date him,” Tricia said with a small giggle. “If you keep the situation vague, people will just want to continue to probe and find answers. If you confirm the rumors, people will eventually get bored of you guys. Get it? Also, he’s kind of cute, don’t you think?” She pulled out another drawing of the two, which had their faces dangerously close together, almost like they were going to kiss. Craig had to give the girls props. If he covered up the side with the other guy on it, he could see that they made his profile angle look really good. And though he didn’t want to admit it, the other guy didn’t look too bad either. He wore a blue jacket that looked almost exactly like Craig’s, but it had a piece of paper taped on with what looked like a “W” drawn on using a red marker. The boy also wore a headband with the words “Wonder Tw--”, the last word cut off because of the angle he was facing. It was as if he was wearing some sort of superhero costume that matched perfectly with Craig’s when he was younger, even if Craig’s was absolutely unoriginal and effortless.

Craig clicked his tongue in feigned annoyance and left the room.

“Stupid guy,” he muttered under his breath. “Making me have stupid thoughts. Now I _have_ to kick his ass.”

 

* * *

 

At the dinner table, everyone sat in silence, and Craig knew why. His father had heard the rumors, and now he was giving him the “I’m disappointed in you, but I don’t know what to do about it” silent treatment. In fact, his father looked more conflicted than disappointed. He snuck glances at Craig, but never for long, and it never started a conversation. His mother did the opposite.

“So, Craig,” she started, earning everyone’s surprise. “I hear that you’ve got a special little someone in your life now.”

Before Craig could deny anything, the sound of a silver utensils hitting a cheap ceramic plate cut him off. His father scooted his chair back and stood up.

“I’m going to finish my dinner in my room,” he said, picking up his plate and leaving the dinner table.

Craig’s mother put a hand to her forehead and sighed heavily.

“I’m sorry about him, Craig. He’s just not… This was just how he was raised. I fully support you, and I’ll do my best to talk to him okay?” She gave Craig an uneasy smile, and the rest of the family ate their dinner quietly.

 

* * *

 

Craig returned to his room, pulled Stripe out of his cage, and placed him on his pillow. The guinea pig scurried off of the pillow and attached himself to Craig, who responded by putting him on his lap and stroking his fur.

“I’m glad that you can’t talk, Stripe,” Craig sighed. “I don’t know how long these stupid rumors will go on, but I’ll put a stop to them. If it requires minimal effort, that is.”

Sure, Craig didn’t want the rumors to continue, but his terrible habit of being too lazy to care prevented him from going through lengths that surpassed the act of just complaining about it. He wasn’t like Stan, Kyle, or Cartman, who would actively go to the source and put an end to it. That’s too much of a hassle. Besides, he had a plan. He was going to try to get information about the blonde from the Asian girls again. If that didn’t work, then he would talk to someone who could get information out of them. And if _that_ didn’t work… well, he hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

His plans were tossed out of the window when he went to class the next day. Standing before him was none other than the boy from the pictures. Everyone seemed to have made this connection too. Half of the class already began whispering to each other about the new guy, and the other half continuously switched their gazes from him to Craig with looks of bewilderment.

Craig was focused on the boy, who stood awkwardly in front of the class until the teacher gave him instructions. Like the pictures, he had disheveled blonde hair that made him want to comb it back, but the art didn’t portray him realistically. Sure, a simple sketch could give you a general idea of what the guy looked like, but there was more to this guy that really defined his character. He was fairly thin, though definitely not bony. His skin was pale, which highlighted his freckles and dark circles. His eyes were a dull green, which were wide open, shifting to all the students in the class. He was clearly freaking out from all of the commotion, though that was reasonable, being that he gained so much attention during the few minutes that he had been standing in front of the class. The boy hadn’t even spoken yet, and people were already talking about him. Who wouldn’t be even a little concerned about that?

It was hard to determine whether this guy had any part in the creation of the romantic artwork, but Craig still had his suspicions. He caught the new guy’s eye for a split second, but his reaction was no different than the ones he had given everyone else. He didn’t really acknowledge Craig’s presence at all, making Craig question if Butter’s theory could be rejected at this point. He still intended to investigate, however.

Once the teacher had all of her papers organized and her lesson plan prepared, she waved the boy over, then pointed to the empty seat in front of Craig. He nodded and took his seat, but the stares of his classmates bore into him, causing him to take deep breaths that ended up becoming very shaky as he exhaled. The poor guy had no idea why everyone was so interested in him. All he knew was that he desperately wanted it to stop.

“Hey there,” said Clyde, who sat to the boy’s left. “I’m Clyde. What’s your name?”

Craig raised an eyebrow at Clyde, who saw this action to be out of his character. He expected Clyde to be as overbearing as everyone else due to the rumors floating around, but here he was, just being a friendly guy. Craig also noticed that when Clyde introduced himself, the boy was startled, but he calmed down greatly afterwards. He was still shaking slightly from the people who were watching the interaction, namely everybody, but he tried to put his focus on his own introduction.

“I’m Tweek,” he said, giving Clyde a small smile. The whispering continued, but now his name was brought up in several conversations around the room.

“Tweek,” Craig repeated, though he immediately regretted it once a good amount of his classmates gasped. Unaware of the entire situation, Tweek quickly turned to Craig with a puzzled stare.

“Yes?” he responded.

“No, nothing,” Craig answered. “Forget it. Turn around.”

Craig opened up his notebook and began writing random facts to show Tweek that he was busy. Somewhat insulted by his attitude, he turned away with a huff and faced Clyde.

“Oh, don’t worry about Craig,” Clyde explained. “He’s going through some stuff right now, so he’s pretty fussy.”

The teacher began to speak, causing the chatter to die out. This relieved Tweek, who finally started to calm down. He pulled a thermos out of a maroon backpack and took a sip. The scent of coffee seeped out and surrounded the area around him, but it wasn’t bad enough to gain any attention from his peers, aside from a quick glance from some who were just curious about the sudden change in smell. He didn’t notice that he had Craig’s attention, being that he sat behind him, so he calmly and quietly drank from his thermos.

Now that he was sure that Tweek didn’t notice him, Craig studied his behavior. There were no more stares directed at him, yet the boy shook slightly, almost like he was vibrating in place. He wondered if Tweek was cold or just really paranoid. Tweek wore a thin, olive green button-up shirt that certainly wouldn’t protect him from the harsh winters of South Park, leading Craig to assume that he was probably just cold. _More of a reason to drink coffee_ , he guesses.

 

* * *

 

 

As soon as class ended, Clyde jumped out of his seat and stood in front of Tweek’s desk, who was slowly putting his notebook and thermos into his bag. Tweek had been rather suspicious of Clyde, since he couldn’t figure out why this guy was trying to befriend him while everyone else was whispering behind his back.

“I think you’ve noticed that everyone’s talking about you by now,” Clyde pointed out. “Hurry and put your stuff away. We’ll explain what’s going on, okay?.”

“GAH! You better!”

Tweek could see the stares from the corners of his eyes. He could tell that a few people were debating whether or not to talk to him, which he didn’t really feel like doing, so he started shoving his things into his bag with no regard to what he could’ve ruined in there. Clyde, along with Craig, dragged Tweek to his locker, where Token and Jimmy had been waiting. Clyde had texted them during class about Tweek, and he asked them to meet him here so they could all go outside. At every turn, people took notice to Tweek, which made him walk faster. The guys tried to keep up with him as they all headed towards the courtyard.

“What’s happening?!” Tweek panicked. “I just moved here! Why does everyone keep staring at me?!”

“I said we’ll explain!” Clyde called out after him.

Once they had left the sight of all their gossiping peers, they all stopped to catch their breath, except for Tweek. He had enough energy to stand upright and give off the aura of paranoia.

“What’s going on?! Who are these guys?!” Tweek shouted, pointing at Token and Jimmy.

“We’re all friends, dude. Don’t worry,” Clyde assured.

“He’s the co-co-complete opposite of Craig,” Jimmy noted.

“You got that right,” Token agreed, turning his attention to his stoic friend. The guys knew that it was just a front, but Craig kept it up so well that they gave up on trying to see the “real” him years ago.

“So…” Craig started, gaining everyone’s attention. “I take it that you don’t know anything about the artwork--”

“Artwork?! What artwork?!” Tweek interrupted.

“Let me finish. Actually, here’s a different question. Do you know any Asian girls? Ones that are artists, specifically.”

“Asian girls?” Tweek asked as he tried to gain back his composure in order to think properly. He couldn’t recall any Asian girls in his life. He’s seen some before, obviously, but he didn’t really speak to them. In fact, he didn’t speak to many people in general, since they tended to be driven away by his inability to use an inside voice and his occasional twitching, which was caused by the obscene amount of coffee that he drank daily.

“Different question,” Token began. “Do you know this guy?” He held a hand in front of Craig, who happened to be squinting at Tweek. Tweek found this intimidating, but because of Craig’s attitude towards him earlier, he felt more frustration towards him rather than fear. In reality, Craig was squinting to see if there was any notable feature of Tweek’s that he could use to remember whether or not they’ve ever crossed paths.

“Unless you’ve been to Denver, not really,” he answered, keeping his gaze on Craig. He felt like he was having a stare-down, but Craig didn’t think the same way. He was surprised to see that Tweek was glaring at him, though after what he had learned from the guy, he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with him. Tweek was more of a victim than him, after all.

“W-well guys, I don’t think we learned anything,” Jimmy concluded.

“Huh? Were you guys interrogating me?” Tweek asked, confused by the guys’ reactions. “Weren’t you supposed to be telling me why everyone’s so obsessed with me?”

“Would you look at that,” said a stocky boy who stood by the door to the courtyard. “It’s the famous gays.”

The boy was accompanied by a guy who was taller and thinner than him and a guy with a much more athletic build than both of them. They all looked obnoxious and overconfident. It was your typical high school bullies, here to take out their frustrations through the only way they knew how: by beating up people who they’ve been taught to hate and think they’re better than.

The whole situation was so ridiculously cliche that Craig and his gang couldn’t help but feel secondhand embarrassment for them, but they stayed on their guard regardless. Craig, Clyde, and Token were the main fighters of the group, and Jimmy used his advantage as a handicapped person to use his crutches against people without them being able to fight back. Every one of them waited patiently for what was going to happen next, be it an actual, physical fight, or just a verbal exchange.

“God, seeing their faces doing gross gay shit everywhere kind of makes you sick, huh?” the tall one commented in disgust, eyeing Tweek as he spoke.

“You got that right,” said the stocky one. “And look at the new guy. He’s a fucking mess.”

Though Tweek had a messy appearance with his wild hair and incorrectly buttoned shirt, he wasn’t buckling down at the sight of them. The shaking that he displayed from the earlier gossiping and stares had ended, making way for a boy who only felt irritation and impatience. He may overreact in situations that he didn’t understand or didn’t know how to solve, but this one was simple. These guys were bullies, and he knew how to deal with them.

“Been awhile since we kicked any freshman ass, huh?” said the muscular one. “Gay ass, too. We’re doing the lord a favor for this.”

“Sheesh, you guys seriously attack freshman for no reason?” Craig questioned, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Did you ever finish elementary school, or are you all homophobic 8-year-olds trapped in the bodies of teenagers whose mothers should’ve aborted them?”

Clyde and the others pressed their lips together to stifle a laugh when Craig pulled out his famous middle finger. Craig’s sharp tongue never failed to amuse them, especially in these situations. Watching a bully’s shit-eating grin be replaced with bared teeth and red cheeks was just so satisfying.

“You’re going to regret picking a fight, you fucking fag!” the muscular one threatened, charging at Craig.

Craig held up his fists to fight back, but he was suddenly blinded by the sight of something soft and yellow entering his vision. He witnessed a properly executed left-handed uppercut to the underside of the muscular one’s chin, resulting in them snapping their head upwards, falling backwards, and hitting their head on the pavement. Blood pooled out of his mouth from the teeth that had cracked and fallen out.

“One-hit KO!” Clyde cheered, though he held his fists up to protect himself. There was no need, since Tweek was already lunging at the other two.

For heavier opponents, you need to be fast. Tweek was light on his feet, never staying in place for a moment, not even allowing his feet to lay flat on the ground. The stockier one would absorb most punches due to the amount of fat on his body, so Tweek could only rely on quick punches to his face to make him dizzy.

_One jab to the right cheek. Step to the other side. Another jab to the left. Return to the middle, but keep some distance._

His opponent regained focus and launched a fist at Tweek’s face. Tweek dodged the best he could, but just barely, as the fist managed to brush against his hair.

Craig had been eyeing the tall one, who was waiting for an opportunity to strike. Tweek was fast; that wasn’t for debate, but Craig didn’t know if he could handle two-against-one. When the shorter one’s fist nearly made contact with Tweek’s face, the tall one jumped in to grab Tweek. Craig sprinted towards the tall one, pulled them back by their shirt, then delivered a hard blow to their stomach. When the boy doubled over in pain, Craig grabbed his head and collided it with his knee, causing them to black out and fall over. He turned around to see if he could help Tweek, but that wasn’t necessary. His opponent was already staggering.

_One leg forward, then twist your waist. Tense your body, aim for the jaw, then finish with a sideswipe._

The force put into Tweek’s punch was enough to snap the boy’s head to the side, triggering another blackout. On the ground lied 3 teenage boys, all battered, bloody, and unconscious. Unaware that Craig had joined the fight, Tweek turned to see who was left, but he instead found Craig staring awkwardly in awe.

“Oh, uh… Thanks for your help,” Tweek said, noting the body that lied behind Craig. His body was exhausted after exerting so much energy, despite not suffering a single injury, but he had enough strength to stand and speak.

“No prob…” Craig replied, unable to express any of his thoughts on the matter. He wasn’t sure how he was going to continue the interrogation, but needless to say, fighting him won’t be a good idea.

 


	2. Inevitable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for actually being interested enough to read past the first chapter, and thank you for all the nice comments! Now, onward with the story!

It was inevitable that the gang would end up in the principal’s office after a faculty member found them all standing next to a bunch of unconscious bodies. The boys fearfully anticipated what kind of punishment that they would receive, except for Tweek, who didn’t know anything about PC Principal, and Jimmy, who was well aware that he couldn’t be touched.

With a dumbbell in hand, PC Principal took note the lineup: two homosexuals, one disabled, and one African American. He turned his attention to the only one in the group that wasn’t a minority in any shape or form. 

“You there,” he said, pointing at Clyde. “Care to tell me why three of our students were found unconscious in the courtyard today?”

Clyde stood up immediately and pointed to Craig and Tweek.

“It was them! Th-they fought those guys!” Clyde blurted. “Look at my hands! My clothes! Not a scuff on me!”

Tweek didn’t seem to care that Clyde sold him out, seeing how they weren’t exactly friends at this point, but Craig was genuinely offended by the betrayal. He was going to get him back for that later. 

“Ah, I see. You three can go back to class, then,” the principal instructed.

Clyde hurried out of the office, Jimmy left normally, and Token walked off after wishing good luck to Craig.

“Now tell me, boys. What did those guys do to provoke you to fight? Were they using any microaggressions?”

Craig faced Tweek, raised his eyebrows at him, and pointed at PC Principal through his head movements. Understanding this nonverbal form of communication, Tweek nodded and spoke up.

“They wanted to beat us up for being gay!” Tweek claimed angrily.

Even though keeping up the act would get them in the least amount of trouble, Craig felt conflicted about the idea of the person he was drawn in romantic situations with calling him gay. _It’s just acting_ , Craig told himself, yet it felt strange. This stranger, whom he had only known for a class period plus maybe 10 or so minutes, was confirming the rumors, even though he knew nothing about them. He began to wonder what Tweek’s reaction to the drawings was going to be like.

The principal began fuming as his hands balled into tight fists.

“Harassing homosexuals… in my school?” he muttered under his breath, now shaking like the way Tweek did during class.

They were aware that this anger wasn’t directed towards them, but the aura of rage filled the room caused both boys to sit back and secure themselves in their chairs with eyes wide with terror.

“WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?!” the principal bellowed, throwing his dumbbell at the wall. “ACTS OF HOMOPHOBIA WILL **NOT** BE TOLERATED!” 

“So we’re free to go, right? Great! We’ll just let you deal with them, then!” Craig sputtered, grabbing Tweek by the hand and dragging him out of the office as quickly as he could.

The two rushed to the nearest water fountain and tried to catch their breath, completely disregarding the fact that their hands were still holding on tightly to each other. The girl in front of them closed her locker and turned towards them. She noticed the two, then their hands, and then their messy appearances from the earlier fight. She clutched a sketchbook to her chest and stared at them wide-eyed. Once Craig finally noticed her, he realized the compromising situation, then pulled his hand away from Tweek’s.

“Nothing to see here,” he told the girl, who he recognized to be part of the Asian girl clique. “Move along.”

The girl nodded and smiled before taking her sweet time walking back to her classroom.

“I was actually trying to grab your wrist. Sorry,” Craig apologized to Tweek, though Tweek wasn’t bothered by it.

“It’s fine,” Tweek replied, holding up a hand to wave off Craig’s worries.

When Tweek’s fingers curled into his palm loosely to end the wave, Craig could see that his knuckles were bruised. He directed Tweek’s attention to it with his eyes, to which Tweek responded with a small “ah”. His hand stopped throbbing a while back, but the unsightly reddish-purple color was bothersome. He didn’t expect to get into any conflict so soon, but from the way the day played out for him, it really wasn’t that surprising.

“What class do you have to go to now?” Craig spoke suddenly, snapping Tweek out of his thoughts and causing him to jump.

“Huh? Oh, class? Um…”

Tweek freed an arm to let his backpack fall to his reach and then dug out a crumpled piece of paper, which was crushed under the notebook that he had shoved in his bag before they left.

“AP English. Room 203,” he read.

“I have History next door to that, so I’ll come with you. It’s upstairs.”

“I can find it on my own,” Tweek huffed. He was under the impression that Craig was starting to baby him, which he didn’t appreciate.

“I just said it was right next door to my class, idiot. Now come on.”

Since the two were already too late to rush, they settled for walking to class at a leisurely pace. Tweek took this time to observe Craig. He wore a blue hat with long ear flaps that stopped a couple inches above his shoulders, which then had yellow braided yarn hanging from the ends. On the top of the hat, there was what looked like a flattened yellow puffball that matched the braids. Under the hat, short, straight black hair poked out. Though he could barely even see a profile view without seeming like he was staring, Tweek noticed that Craig had lightly tanned skin and bright blue eyes, which contrasted with his own features.  Aside from the hat, Craig looked somewhat familiar.

Tweek’s sight shifted to his feet, and he started to wonder how he got into this situation. He remembered the bullies mentioning something about “seeing their faces doing gross gay shit”. Who were they directing that at? The group he was with? Were Craig and the others all gay? Did they think _he_ was gay?

Craig saw that Tweek was lost in thought, so he felt the need to break the silence, but with what? Should he explain the deal with the artwork, or should he let him find out on his own? He was more surprised to learn that Tweek hasn’t seen any of them yet.

“That was pretty cool back there,” Craig noted. “What was that, like, MMA?”

“Boxing,” Tweek corrected. “I learned it when I was eight. These kids wanted to see a fight, and before you know it, I was taking classes as a hobby.”

“They wanted to see a fight, so you just… Beat someone up? Like out of the blue?” Craig knew that Tweek was perfectly capable of standing up for himself, but he never pegged him as the bully type.

“No, not like that! I was tricked!” Tweek pleaded, losing control of the pitch of his voice. “Those kids told me that some kid was insulting me, so I went after him! I wasn’t just gonna take that, you know? But it turns out that all of that was fake, and that kid was being told that I was insulting _him_. The whole situation was stupid! I hate when people take advantage of me!”

“Talk to me about being taken advantage of when you’re swindled out of your birthday money and end up trapped in Peru.”

Tweek could only give Craig a baffled look, but Craig expected this. Everybody that he told this story to didn’t believe him, which was ridiculous. This was South Park, the place where giant guinea pigs could rampage throughout the streets, Satan was just your average citizen, and Asian girls could draw pictures of you putting your hands down a stranger’s pants without anyone questioning their intentions. How could you _not_ expect ridiculous things to happen?

“I don’t care whether you believe it or not. Literally no one took me seriously when I told them.”

“No, I believe you,” Tweek smiled. “People don’t believe half the things I tell them anyway. Always telling me I’m being paranoid.”

Tweek’s smile faded when he thought about times where his friends and family dismissed his fears as unreasonable paranoia. Craig noticed this change in mood and wondered what he had said to cause it. A heavy silence soon surrounded them, leaving Craig very uncomfortable. He never really minded awkward silences, especially since he was usually the one who caused them by abruptly ending the conversation, but this situation was different. He was supposed to be finding out clues as to what prompted the girls to draw the two of them together, but here he was, chatting away and getting to know his “secret boyfriend”.

“Right here,” Craig announced, stopping in front of Tweek’s classroom.

“I’m sorry about that,” Tweek apologized.

“About what?”

“I got lost in my thoughts again. I made things pretty awkward, huh? It’s nothing you said, so don’t worry about that. I make people uncomfortable, and—“

“No,” Craig interrupted to stop the self-loathing speech. “I don’t mind silence. I thought you were just thinking about stuff, so I left you alone. Really, it’s cool.”

Tweek couldn’t help but smile at this awkward boy’s attempt at consoling him. Most people would be angry with him or avoid him, so the difference in reaction was one that he welcomed. It was preferred over the rest of the school’s behavior towards him, that’s for sure.

“Thank you, Craig. You’re… actually a nice guy.”

“Whoa, hey, no. I’m not nice, okay? I don’t know where you would get that idea,” Craig retorted as he tried to uphold his image. “I’m an asshole, got that?”

“Alright, asshole,” Tweek replied with a grin, picking up on Craig’s facade quickly. He knew people that behaved similarly: pretending to be cold and aloof, but they were actually just huge, lovable dorks. He liked those kinds of people much better than when they behaved the other way around.

Craig spun on his heel without another word and walked into his classroom, and Tweek did the same. He braced himself to be scolded for being late when he walked in, but that wasn’t the case. Token was in this class, and he had already told the teacher that Tweek was speaking to the principal, so she just told him to find a seat so she could continue the lecture. The empty spot was a few desks away from him, but when Tweek sat, Token leaned back in his chair to mouth the words “are you okay”. Tweek responded with a nod, then pulled out a notebook to start writing. He was still in a good mood from his interaction with Craig, but that changed when he realized that some of his classmates were staring at him again. Wendy poked at Kyle, who sat to Tweek’s left, and whispered something to him that Tweek couldn’t make out. Kyle waved her off to focus on his notes, but Wendy continued to sneak glances at Tweek. He ignored her and hoped that she wouldn’t try to talk to him.

 

* * *

 

In the same fashion as Clyde during the end of his last class, Wendy stood hopped out of her seat and approached Tweek’s desk. He wanted to tell her to leave, but a part of him had a feeling that this was the part where he learns why he had received so much attention today.

“Tweek, right?” Wendy asked. “I’m part of the student council, so I saw your name in the files. I’m Wendy.”

“Hi…” he mumbled quietly. He could see Kyle staring at Wendy expectantly, though the way his eyes squinted indicated that he knew that what was going to happen next wasn’t something good. Behind him, he could see Token watching the interaction with great interest.

“I try not to believe in rumors until I’ve done my own research…”

The word “rumors” caused Tweek to inhale sharply. He faced Wendy nervously, but attentively. Wendy was surprised by his reaction, making her pause for a moment before continuing.

“I wanted to know if that was you in the artwork,” she finished.

“What… art...work?” Tweek said slowly, afraid of what he was going to learn.

Wendy picked up a purple binder off of her desk and handed it to Tweek. When he held it in his hands, he saw Token with his hands pressed together in front of his lips and Kyle with his hands half-covering his wide open eyes. He was starting to consider giving the binder back and going straight home, but he took a deep breath and opened it.

“This guy right here.” Wendy pointed to the drawing of a spiky haired blonde that was hidden behind a clear sheet protector. “Is that supposed to be you and Craig Tucker?”

For a good thirty seconds, Tweek’s brain shut down. He could only stare blankly at the drawing. He could hear Wendy babbling on in the background, but he couldn’t understand a word. It was like he was underwater, and the sound of the world around him became distorted.

Once he regained consciousness, he blinked three times, then he started to scream. He continued to scream as he ran out of the classroom with the binder gripped tightly in his hand. Wendy, Token, and Kyle, though very alarmed at first, followed Tweek to see what was going to happen next.

Craig waited outside of Tweek’s class with the intention of speaking to Token about what happened earlier after class ended, but like everyone else, he froze in place when he heard screaming. He was met with Tweek shoving the binder in his face.

“What is this?!” he screamed.

Judging by Tweek’s overreaction, Craig could already tell what was inside without opening the binder, but the other students were oblivious to the situation. He could hear “lover's quarrel” and “angry boyfriend” from the crowd’s not-so-subtle whispering, but he tuned them out to put his focus on calming Tweek and stopping him from creating a bigger scene.

“I was actually going to talk to you about that--”

“When?! Before or after you ruin my life?!”

“Ruin _your_ life?!” Craig snapped. “You think I was the one who started this?!”

“Then who’s fault is it, then?!”

The two managed to argue using words that didn’t hint at what they were angry about, allowing the audience to come up with their own theories. Some suggested cheating, others questioned the contents of the binder, and the rest were just ready to see a fight.

“You need to learn how to control your emotions!” Craig shouted, unintentionally balling his fists and glaring angrily at Tweek.

“Craig, stop it!” Wendy ordered, running in front of Tweek. “This is not how to settle arguments with your partner!”

Wendy’s words resonated with the crowd, who all decided that Craig was the one at fault, despite not knowing any details of the situation. From the crowd’s glares, Craig loosened his fists, took a step back, and darted into the nearest bathroom. His friends, who had been watching the argument, chased after him.

“I’m sorry, Tweek,” Wendy apologized, pulling Tweek out of the crowd and taking him outside with her to meet up with her friends. “I don’t know what came over him. As far as I’m aware, he’s never lost his temper before.”

 

* * *

 

“Craig? Dude, you in here?” Token called out, peeking into the bathroom with Clyde and Jimmy. The other boys kept their distance, but they were still curious about what had happened, so they stood by the bathroom door to wait for Craig’s response. Anyone else who tried to go inside was met with an intimidating stare from the boys, which caused them to scurry away.

Craig stood over the sink and repeatedly splashed his face with cold water. He pressed his hands into his face to feel the quickly diminishing coolness of the water and sighed. He was the one who needed to calm down. Craig Tucker doesn’t lose control over his emotions. He can get angry, but he doesn’t raise his voice. That would show people that he actually cared, which contradicted with his image.

“You okay, buddy?” Jimmy asked, pulling himself over to Craig’s side with his crutches clacking on the tile floor. Token turned off the faucet and Clyde patted Craig on the back. The others started to pile in quietly, with some of them standing by the door to prevent anyone else from interrupting.

“These drawings are fucking destroying me,” Craig groaned. He closed his eyes and rested the top of his head on the mirror.

“That was Wendy’s binder, by the way,” Kyle explained. “She showed that guy Tweek the drawings, and he completely flipped out. He started screaming and running off.”

Craig cursed Wendy in a low growl, but he knew it wasn’t her fault. It’s not like he told her to keep it a secret, but even if he did, Tweek would’ve seen the drawings at some point, be it in the hallways or through someone else. From the argument, Craig could state one of two things: either Tweek thought _he_ created the artwork, or he thought that Craig was the cause of their creation. Neither were true, but Tweek didn’t know that.

“I don’t think that new guy likes you very much,” Stan commented. “Probably killed your chances of getting with him.”

“I _wasn’t_ trying to get with him, asswipe,” Craig hissed, losing his composure once again. He brushed off Clyde, who was trying to calm him down by rubbing his back.

“So I guess I wasn’t right about him liking you?” Butters asked, referencing the suggestion he made the day before about Tweek being the cause of the artwork. “I don’t think he appreciated the drawings very much.”

“M-maybe you should explain to him that you d-did-didn’t have anything to do with the d-drawings,” Jimmy suggested.

 _That won’t be easy_ , Craig thought, remembering how quickly Tweek blamed him. He doubted that Tweek even bothered to think about the situation logically and just allowed himself to be controlled by his emotions. Before Craig ran to the bathroom, he recalled hearing Wendy taking Tweek somewhere, so he had no idea what would come out of that. Would she explain that the Asian girls drew them, or would she completely forget to mention that little piece of information and try to give him relationship counselling or some shit?

 

* * *

 

Just as expected, Wendy didn’t bring up the Asian girls at all. She brought Tweek to her friends to talk about Craig’s personality and relationship history instead.

“As I said earlier, Craig isn’t normally like this,” Wendy assured, fully believing the idea that Tweek was upset that someone was drawing his private life, but she never told him who the drawings were made by.

Tweek could tell that Wendy and the others didn’t know the real reason why he was angry, but he found himself unable to correct them. He was trying to prevent himself from getting worked up again by trying to think reasonably and tuning out the girls’ comments. Craig wouldn’t draw them together and post art everywhere. Just from the short conversation they had during their walk to class, Tweek could already tell that Craig was the type who didn’t want to draw attention to themselves in such a way. Who was at fault, then?

“Do you think Craig rejected all those girls because he was already secretly dating Tweek?” Bebe asked. “That’s so sweet of him! They can’t see each other due to long distance, but he wouldn’t dream of cheating on him!”

 _Long distance? Cheating? Dating me? What the hell were these girls going on about?_ It was clear to Tweek that these girls assumed that the two of them were a couple because of the artwork.

“Craig and I aren’t--” Tweek spoke softly until he was interrupted.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Tweek!” said Heidi, who held his hands in hers and beamed at him. “Your relationship will be just fine, as long as the two of you can communicate your feelings!”

“Communicate?” said Red, who raised an eyebrow at the thought. “That boy isn’t big on communication. Take it from the only girl who managed to speak to him for the longest, even as his _cousin_ , and that was only because of a project.”

“The few girls that he actually dated back in elementary and middle school say that they could never crack him,” Nichole recalled. “I think it’s because he’s not really interested in them, and those girls were all trying to see if they could impress him somehow.”

“Yeah, that’s what his sister told me. She said that she thinks he’s gay because he keeps breaking up with all his girlfriends because he thinks they’re too lame!” Red giggled, sending a flirty look Tweek’s way. He could hear the sound of a camera shutter when she turned around and held her phone in front of her with a peace sign by her cheek.

“Aww!” Bebe cooed after the group selfie. “He must really like you, then!”

The sound of the 5-minute warning bell was a blessing to Tweek. He escaped from the girls with the excuse that he didn’t want to be late, which wasn’t really an excuse since it was true, but he just wanted to get away from them.

 

* * *

 

Unable to think of a way to address the previous argument, Craig and Tweek spent the rest of the day not speaking to each other, leading the school to believe that things were rough between them. The curious looks directed at them during the morning had changed to looks of pity, which wasn’t exactly an improvement. The walk home differed vastly from the day before, as people seemed too depressed to even look at him. Like always, he walked with Clyde, who was reveling in the fact that Craig didn’t push him away this time, meaning that he definitely had the best friend status. Clyde rambled about his day, which wasn’t much, seeing how most of it comprised of people not really talking to each other due to the wave of depression Craig and Tweek’s argument caused.

“Don’t be sad, buddy,” said Clyde, though he kept his hands to himself this time. “Token and Jimmy and I think that you guys will work things out.”

“Dude, you make us sound like we had broken up. We weren’t dating. You could hardly consider us friends, seeing how we only knew each other for a day before everything went to shit.”

“You don’t want to be his friend?”

Craig faced Clyde and waited for him to elaborate on his statement.

“I’m just throwing stuff out there because I don’t know for sure, but I thought that the fact that you jumped in to fight alongside him was your way of trying to protect him or something. I don’t know.”

“I didn’t want him taking the fun out of a fight that was meant for me.”

“Oh? Were you trying to show him how cool you were by beating the crap out of people? His fighting stood out more than your’s, though.”

“Dammit Clyde, quit making me sound like I’m into him. I don’t even know him.”

Craig started walking faster to avoid hearing what Clyde was going to say next, but Clyde picked up his pace to catch up. He knew that Craig was still upset about the argument, but he hated being left in the dark. He wanted to know the details of his best friend’s life, even if it meant pushing his boundaries.

“What happened at the principal’s office?” he asked.

Craig shuddered at the memory of the principal’s rage. Watching the dumbbell fly through the wall was terrifying for him, but he couldn’t even imagine what it was like for whoever was in the faculty office next door. One minute, you’re drinking coffee and laughing about your asshole students, and the next thing you see is a dumbbell crashing through concrete and colliding with the floor, possibly cracking the tile as well.

“Tweek told him why we were harrassed, the principal started shouting and throwing stuff, and I ended up grabbing Tweek’s hand and dragging him out of there to save our asses.”

“You held hands?!” Clyde’s hands pressed against his cheeks, and an excited smile stretched his lips to a point where Craig believed that he might be stuck with that face. Craig didn’t know why he was so obsessed with that insignificant detail that didn’t mean anything, but Clyde was just excited about this being a chance for his best friend to find love. When he had come to the conclusion that he and Bebe were going to stay together for good after dating for the past few years, he couldn’t wait to spread the love, especially to his buddy Mr. Can’t-Date-Someone-Longer-For-Two-Days Tucker.

“You’re blowing this _way_ out of proportion. It didn’t mean anything,” Craig explained. He didn’t like the idea of Clyde gushing over a fake relationship like the rest of the school, though he saw this coming. Clyde had obsessed over every one of his relationships, claiming that each girl could be “the one”. He was crushed after finding out that wasn’t true every time.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. So if he found out about the drawings from Wendy, then what did you guys talk about on the way back to class?”

“How do you know we talked? We split ways right afterward.”

“Craig,” said Clyde, not buying this answer. “I may not know what’s going on that head of yours, but I can tell when you’re lying.”

Craig was the type to always say what he thinks, which meant that he had no filter, and that he got into trouble pretty often. This also meant that he wasn’t good at lying or acting, so his friends eventually picked up on signs of him being dishonest.

The first was him losing his cool. It’s true that he had never blown up in front of anyone aside from what happened with Tweek, but there are times where his friends have noticed that his uncaring act was failing him. His normally blank expression would change through small details such as furrowed eyebrows or tiny smiles that he forces back into a neutral expression. You had to be quick to see it, though, which the gang had mastered after all of these years.

The second was his tone of voice. The pitch would go up slightly, and he would speak a little faster. Again, you had to pay close attention to notice it. This wasn’t as common as the change in facial expression, so when he did this, the gang knew he was lying.

The third was straight up blushing. This has yet to happen, but Clyde thinks that it’ll happen if you question Craig about crushes. This disregards the time when Craig had a crush on Bebe in the fourth grade, mainly because he looked more hypnotized than in love, just like the rest of the boys in the class.

Craig displayed all three of this signs, and Clyde couldn’t be happier about being the one to finally see Craig blush after being caught in a lie, even if it was very faint. He’ll definitely rub it into Token’s face, who was his main rival in terms of best-friend status. If Craig ever had a problem, he would discuss it with Token first because Token was smarter and better at keeping secrets. But not today. This was Clyde’s moment.

“Maybe I did wanna be friends with him...” Craig confessed. When Clyde’s eyes lit up again, Craig quickly shut him down.

“But not anymore. That guy is so over dramatic. He blames me for something I didn’t do, then refuses to listen to my side of the story? What an ass.”

“Uh, well…” Clyde racked his brain for a way to lift his friend’s spirits. “You guys should talk it out, then! I heard Bebe has his number now, so I’ll give it to you!”

Clyde whipped out his phone and typed away. He had the keyboard clicking sounds activated, so all Craig could hear from him was his fingernails tapping the glass of his phone and the clacking tone of each letter being pressed. The next sound came from Craig’s phone, which signaled that Clyde had sent him the number. He didn’t look at it.

“Thanks, I guess,” Craig mumbled. He knew it wasn’t Tweek’s fault. Not everyone could keep their calm like Craig, but even he knew that Tweek’s reaction was warranted, no matter how unnecessary it was. He probably doesn’t know it’s the Asian girls’ fault, even up until now.

“Oh, one more thing,” Craig added. He signalled Clyde to follow him to his front porch, and Clyde complied without question.

“What’s up, dude?”

A palm thrust to Clyde’s chest sent him tumbling down the steps. When he sat up to ask what the hell that was for, he saw Craig flipping him off with a smirk.

“That was for selling me out earlier.”

He waved goodbye to Clyde before unlocking the door to his house. When he walked inside, he instantly made eye contact with his father, who was watching television.

“Hey,” his father greeted, though Craig could sense the discomfort in his voice. “How was school?’

For a moment, Craig stood at the doorway silently. His father never really started conversations with him unless it involved chores or family events, so he didn’t know how to respond. That, and he got the feeling that this could’ve been his father’s way of trying to pretend that everything was okay with his son. Communication might’ve not been Craig’s strong suits, but it was much worse for his father, which isn’t a great trait to have during the moody teen years.

“Okay. Uh… I was in a fight,” Craig brought up, knowing that this was something his father would like to hear. “Some older kids wanted to pick on some freshman, which were me and my friends.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding impressed. “I don’t see a scuff on ya. Did they run away, or were they too weak?”

“Weak,” Craig lied. His opponent didn’t pose a threat to him, but Tweek technically did most of the work. If it were only him fighting, he wasn’t sure how things would turn out. He had his gang to back him up, but they definitely weren’t as skilled as Tweek, so the chances of them coming out unscathed were low. Not that his father needed to know that.

“Ha! Wish I could’ve seen it!” his father laughed. “You don’t let some punks try to kick your ass, got it? I raised you better than that.”

“Will do,” Craig replied, walking upstairs to end the conversation as soon as possible.

At the top of the steps, he could see Tricia quietly waving him over. She led him into her room and shut the door behind her. Craig could already predict what she was going to say, so he took a seat on the purple comforter of her unmade bed. From the corner of his eye, he could see the folder from yesterday at the edge of her bed.

“Red sent me this,” said Tricia, who held her phone out for Craig to see. It was the group selfie that Red took when the girls were talking to Tweek, and from the look on his face, Craig could tell that Tweek really wanted to escape from them. He let out a snicker at the poor boy’s discomfort.

“That’s him, isn’t it? The guy from the drawings?”

“Yep,” Craig answered, though he wasn’t 100% sure. Everyone else seemed to think so, even Tweek. The only ones yet to confirm were the Asian girls, but he was sure that they would say yes as well.

“Doesn’t look like you beat him up,” Tricia pointed out. “What, are you too gay for him now? Are you dating him now? You wanna punch him with your mouth?”

“Shit, Trish. I’ve known the guy for one day, and it only took two class periods for him to start hating me. Give me some space, alright?”

“Poor Creggo. He’s destined for the single life for all eternity,” she teased. “This is a good pic of him, you know. He’s cute. You enjoy that, ‘kay?” She sent him the picture, then flipped him off with a smirk.

“God dammit, Tricia. I’m not gay,” Craig retorted in a low voice in case his dad could hear from downstairs, but the loud music in Tricia’s room drowned out their voices anyway.

“Then why didn’t you fight him?” she asked. “What happened today?”

After a long sigh, Craig dropped his head to his hands and knees in exhaustion. Tricia sat on the same side of the bed, but farther down. She continued to play with her phone until Craig spoke up.

“It’s a long story, so I’m gonna condense it the best I can,” he said.

“Go ahead.”

“I first saw him in my first period class. After class ended, Clyde took us and the rest of the guys to the courtyard to interrogate him, but then these annoying fucks showed up because they wanted to fight ‘cuz they’re pissed off about the art. Tweek pulls out these sweet boxing moves out of nowhere and starts kicking ass. Then we were sent to the principal, stuff happened, we talked about stuff, and then we went to our classes. After class, I hear screaming all of a sudden, and he starts blaming me for ruining his life because of the drawings, even though I didn’t make them. That’s it. The end.”

Craig flopped backwards onto the bed and rolls over so that his face meets the blankets. Tricia took a picture of his defeated state and sent it to Red with the caption “sad fuckboy”.

“That’s rough, buddy,” was all Tricia could say to that.

“Your bed isn’t that comfortable,” Craig commented, his voice muffled from his face being pressed onto the sheets.

“I’m going to ignore that and give you a tip.”

“What?”

“Okay, it’s not really a tip. It’s more like an observation,” Tricia clarified. “I just wanted to say that I don’t think you have a crush on this guy.”

Craig rolled onto his back, interested in hearing what someone who didn’t think he was desperately in love with Tweek had to say. It would surely be a refreshing change.

“Yet.”

He took that original statement back. He stood up and began to head to the door, but before he could, Tricia grabbed onto his sweater. Her focus was still on her phone, but her grip was firm.

“You’re definitely interested in getting to know him because of the situation you guys were thrown in because of the artwork and the fight, but that won’t happen unless you clear up the misunderstandings with him. Get on with that so you can stop moping.”

At this point, Tricia was his voice of reason. The others couldn’t see past the imaginary relationship between him and Tweek, so their advice wasn’t exactly helpful. Then again, Clyde did advise something similar, but Tricia helped him sort out his thoughts on Tweek.

“Whatever,” he replied. She may have helped him, but she was still his annoying little sister, and he was going to treat her as such.

 

* * *

 

Things at the Tweak house played out differently. As soon as he burst through the front door, Tweek rushed into the kitchen to find his either one of his parents. This was an urgent matter that he was _not_ going to put off.

“Mom!” he called out to the woman organizing the fridge. “Where’s Dad? I need to talk to you guys! It’s important! It’s SUPER important!”

“Hold on, honey. I’m trying to weed out all of the expired food. Your father is in his bedroom.”

Tweek hurriedly leaped up the stairs two steps at a time to drag out his father. He found him at his desk with several stacks of papers and binders in a row. He had pooled together all the money earned from their previous coffee shop and purchased an unoccupied building for the new business, which was just going to be another coffee shop.

“Dad! Come downstairs! I have to talk to you and Mom!”

“Well, I suppose I do need a break, but this better be important, son,” his father answered calmly. Tweek slid down the hallway, ran down the stairs, and stood by his mother anxiously as he waited for his father to arrive. Unlike Tweek, his father took his time, taking sips of his coffee as he walked. Tweek was already pushing his luck by dragging him away from his work, so he couldn’t bring himself to tell his father to hurry up. He could only shake in place until his parents were both in the same room as him.

“There he is, Tweek,” his mother said with a calm smile, despite her son’s frantic behavior. “So, how was your first day?”

“We have to move!” Tweek pleaded. “Someone’s drawing artwork of me with some guy here too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 1: The next chapter will take some time because I haven’t been doing well at school and I have to put my trust on finals... Sorry... ;-;
> 
> Note 2: At first, I thought I was making Craig’s interest in Tweek after the fight a little too OOC, but then I remembered when he fought with the other boys to be friends with Mark Cotswalds when he beat up Kyle, and basically his need to befriend every person he deems cool, so this kid is gay AF.


	3. How to Make a Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back kids! Just for a little while, though. I'm slowly coming up with ideas for the story as I go on, but I have some major plot points figured out, so that's something. Enjoy!

“No can do,” was Mr. Tweak’s immediate answer. “We finally secured a building for the new shop. I’m not going to give up this opportunity to start fresh.”

“But Dad! It’s happening again! There’s drawings of me everywhere!”

“Oh yeah, those,” his father replied, seeming unconcerned. “I thought those were nice. You didn’t?”

Tweek was dumbstruck, but when was he not with his parents? They were never angry, but there’s something about their unnatural calmness during any situation was intimidating on its own.

“People bullied me at that school, and now it’s happening again!”

“Didn’t you take boxing lessons to protect yourself? As long as you don’t start terrorizing the town and ruining our business reputation before we even get it off the ground, your mother and I don’t really mind.”

“B-but…” Tweek’s voice trailed off once he realized that arguing would be futile. “What if…”

“We’re not moving, honey,” his mother declared. “It’s not that big of a deal. Don’t worry so much about it.”

Defeated, Tweek picked up his backpack by one of the arm straps and dragged his feet through the carpet on his way back to his room. He dropped the bag on the floor and flopped face first onto his messy bed to groan loudly into the mattress. He knew ahead of time that his parents would react this way, but he had a sliver of hope that told him that things might play out differently. That was stupid of him.

“Stupid parents. Stupid drawings. Stupid…”

Rolling over and staring at the ceiling, he thought about his argument with Craig. He had no right to start screaming at him right off the bat, but at the time, he wasn’t thinking at all. Venting his frustrations, mainly screaming, helps him calm down, and his unlucky target happened to be Craig. But Craig didn’t deserve that. He was a victim too, and no matter how much he wanted to fix things between his potential new friend, he couldn’t. He didn’t know how, that is. The anger in Craig’s eyes when he told him to control himself, his balled fists, his bared teeth… Tweek was afraid of seeing that again. Just like before.

Back in Denver, Tweek had a few friends that could tolerate his erratic behavior, but the most notable was a boy named Jason. He was a mild mannered boy with a striking resemblance to Craig, though he had brown hair that was parted differently. A group of boys pitted them against each other for fun, but once every misunderstanding had cleared up, the two became friends through common interests. From 8 to 14, Tweek and Jason were so close, some of their peers predicted that their relationship would turn to something more.

But not Jason. Tweek was a friend, his best friend, but nothing else. Jason was straight. Whenever someone would joke about the possibility of the two dating, he shot them down instantly. For a boy like Tweek, with a low self esteem and a questionable attraction to Jason, this wasn’t a pleasant thing to hear all the time. At first, Jason would only respond with “I’m straight, guys”, or “I’m not into dudes”, which wasn’t bad. Tweek knew that, so it didn’t bother him that much. This was just a way to help him move on.

That is, until the art incident.

It started differently than in South Park. No presentations, no crowds, nothing. It was just a digital piece that someone had drawn and posted online, but it only circulated around a small community of fans of the yaoi genre. Then another one appeared. Then another, and another, and another, until finally, someone from their school came across it. Jason was fairly popular for his looks and friendliness, so he was recognized as the star of the piece instantly. The drawings were spread to the entire student body like wildfire, and it didn’t take long for Jason to catch on. When he found them, he was furious. Rumor has it that either him or Tweek was responsible, and since Jason denied it completely, the only one left to blame was Tweek. Jason screamed at Tweek in a fit of rage for destroying his reputation, and he didn’t allow Tweek to defend himself or prove his innocence. This was the end of their friendship, and Tweek’s social life. The school shunned him in disgust, leaving Tweek to hide at his house for days in undeserving shame.

Tweek pleaded for his parents to move because of the incident, but they refused to abandon the shop. The very next day, he overheard his parents talking about how their coffee dealers were arrested, and the police was searching for the customers of the dealers. Shutting down the business didn’t take long since one, the store’s only employees were the Tweaks, two, all decor and equipment was being shipped to the new establishment in South Park, and three, their suppliers were already arrested. Within a month, the family pulled Tweek out of school and settled into their new home.

Though he was nervous, Tweek was very excited about moving. No more bullying, no more drugged coffee, and no more hiding. He did worry about how he was going to make friends at the new school, so the night before, he practiced introducing himself in front of the mirror. First he thought about what to say, then how to say it, and then what expression to use. He decided on just giving his name with the friendliest smile possible, and whoever could look past his nervous tics would be his friend.

Nothing went according to plan for Tweek. He wasn’t sure if the girls he spoke to were his friends now, but he had all of their numbers, so at least that’s something. His relationship with the guys on the other hand was a different question. He kept to himself after the argument, so he didn’t speak to Clyde and the others for the rest of the day. They were also Craig’s friends, so it’s likely that they weren’t happy with him getting angry at Craig for no reason.

The chime of his phone startled him. He pulled it out from his back pocket and saw an unknown number on the screen. The first thing he noticed from the preview of the message was Clyde’s name.

**Unknown** : hey tweek! it’s clyde! bebe gave me your number and i gave it to craig. if he texts you, that’s why. hope u guys can work things out! also i don’t know how you got bebe to give you her number but u better not even think about it

Tweek snickered at the thought of Clyde worrying about him possibly hitting on his girlfriend. He read the message again, focusing primarily on the part about Craig. This text was proof that Clyde harbored no feelings of hostility towards him, but it didn’t say much about Craig’s thoughts. If anything, it just showed that Clyde was similar to the girls in the way that he wanted the two of them to reconcile.

Now Tweek was feeling anxious. Clyde just hinted at the possibility of Craig trying to fix things between them, and he was probably going to keep himself up all night in anticipation for that text. But what if Craig didn’t want to make up? He behaved horribly towards Craig, so why should Craig be the one to own up and apologize? There was nothing for him to apologize about. Tweek was the one who had to apologize for blaming Craig for no reason, but he didn’t know how to go about it. Should he apologize through text, or in person? Each had its pros and cons. The benefit of texting is being able to say what you’re thinking without the person in front of you staring you down and making you nervous. The downside was actually gathering the courage to actually send the text, and the fact that Tweek didn’t have Craig’s number.

The only options left were to wait for Craig’s text, or apologize at school, which came with numerous problems. The first was that Tweek was too afraid to face Craig after what had happened. The second was that he was afraid of Craig not forgiving him. The third was that he didn’t know how to get Craig alone to even get the chance to apologize. If he told Craig that he wanted to speak to him alone, that would surely start more rumors, and he knew that Craig didn’t want people to think that the two were together.

Tweek debated on whether or not to ask Clyde for Craig’s number. He was too impatient to wait for a text that might never come. This way, if he could muster enough courage to send a single text asking Craig to meet up with him somewhere, he could throw his phone aside and not deal with it until tomorrow.

**Tweek** : Can you tell me Craig’s number? Just so I know it’s him?

He didn’t have to add the last part, but he figured that was the best thing to say to avoid any additional questions.

**Clyde** : of course dude. 102-8015  
 **Clyde** : probably be better for u to text him. dude’s bad with communication and all

There goes any hope of Craig texting him first. He thanked Clyde and then stared at the number he sent him. There was something interesting about it, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He decided not to dwell on it.

“I want to apologize for what happened today. Can we meet up?” Tweek practiced aloud, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard of the messaging screen. He typed it down, hesitated for a moment, then hit send. He threw the phone toward the corner of his bed with a yelp and sat quietly for a response.

No word from Craig after ten minutes. Tweek became bored of waiting, and his gaze wandered to his backpack. For some of his classes, he received review packets for topics that he needed to know that weren’t covered at his last school. He really didn’t want to do them, but he needed something to do to keep his mind off of Craig.

Three hours worth of review sheets later, Tweek finally heard his phone chime. He lunged to the end of his bed for it and shoved it to his face.

**Craig** : Stark’s Pond. 8 AM.  
 **Tweek** : I’ll be there!

Tweek smiled wildly. This wasn’t going to be a repeat of last time. They were both victims, so there was no reason for them to fight. If things went well, he would have a new friend. There was only one problem.

He was new to town, and he hasn’t taken the time to explore the area. He had no idea where anything was.

 

* * *

 

Earlier at the Tucker residence, Tricia was spinning on Craig’s worn out desk chair while Craig debated on what to say to Tweek. She had barged in minutes after he had left her room because she didn’t trust Craig to actually deal with his problem. On Craig’s phone, the message screen displayed Tweek’s number and a blinking line in an empty text box. He had that open for almost an hour as he and Tricia pitched each other ideas.

“I think you should beg him for forgiveness,” Tricia sneered.

She had been texting her friend Karen McCormick about the situation, who in turn discussed it with Kenny. But Tricia wouldn’t tell Craig that, or else he would kick her out. She saw herself as the person who people go to for advice or information because she spent most of her time quietly observing others, and in the rare event that Craig had an issue, she was one of the people he could vent to. She knew him too well for him to put up his act.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously, I’m going to pick you up and throw you out of here.”

“Okay, okay, sorry. I’ll be serious.”

Tricia had set her phone to vibrate due to the constant back and forth texts between her and Karen.

**Karen** : Kenny says that Craig should just kiss him and be done with it. Is he the type to solve his relationship problems like that?  
 **Tricia** : haha no. he doesn’t like tweek like that. he’s just upset because he wants to be friends with him.  
 **Karen** : I think they should talk it out, then. Friends shouldn’t fight.  
 **Tricia** : yeah but he’s being a weak bitch. we’re trying to decide if he should text him first or wait for tweek to text.  
 **Tricia** : clyde said he gave craig’s number to tweek.  
 **Karen** : Oh! That’s good!  
 **Tricia** : ask kenny what craig should say, and tell him to be serious. we’ve been sitting here for almost an hour.

“Hey…” Craig interrupted. “Are you texting people about this?”

“No,” Tricia lied. “Just talking about girl stuff with Karen.”

Unlike her brother, Tricia was very good at lying. She could come up with an excuse or a lie at the drop of a hat, which came in handy whenever she got into trouble.

**Karen** : Kenny says Craig should man up and text him first.  
 **Karen** : He should be himself, too.

“Just be yourself,” Tricia repeated aloud.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You know. Play it cool, like you try to make people believe you are.”

“So what, I should start off by calling him an ass? Oh wait, I’ll use the middle finger emoji.”

“Ohh, I use that one a lot.”

The sound of a new message caused the two to jump in surprise. It wasn’t just any new message sound. It was the sound of receiving a message from the person who’s chat was opened. They certainly didn’t expect Tweek to text first, nor were they prepared. Tricia propelled the chair forward with her feet, nearly running over Craig’s. Before she could, Craig pulled his legs up onto the bed and crossed them in a criss-cross position.

“What did he say?!” she said excitedly, pushing upwards on the top of the chair’s back to peek at Craig’s phone.

Craig fell backwards onto his bed to prevent Tricia from seeing the text. She began to whine, which he ignored. He brought the phone to his chest to think. Why was he acting like this? Why did he care so much? Why should a text from the spazzy boy who dragged him into an unnecessary conflict matter so much to him?

It was exactly as Tricia said. He wanted to know the reason why the two of them were seen as a couple in the eyes of the Asian girls. What was it about him that made those girls think that the two of them should be together? What _does_ he look for in a relationship, anyway?

From the short period of time that he had known Tweek, he learned a few things about him. Though Tweek had the right to be afraid of having just about the whole school stare at him on his first day, he still showed signs of paranoia, or at least that’s what was hinted when he said that’s what people dismissed his worries as.

Another was that Tweek was easily controlled by his emotions, which was clear from his sudden outburst. Craig had never met another human being who screamed the way he did in public over drawings. He wanted to let his frustrations out when he saw them for the first time as well, but that would cause a scene. Tweek was the complete opposite of Craig in this sense.

Another thing he noticed was that Tweek didn’t have a lot of self-esteem. He was quick to blame himself for making things awkward during their conversation, and he even brought up how making people uncomfortable was something he did often.

One thing that contrasted these things was his ability to stand up for himself. Tweek was paranoid, emotional, and lacked confidence, but he knew how to protect himself. Not only that, but he was the one to protect _Craig_. Tweek knew that the attack was meant for Craig, yet he jumped into the fight to defend someone he didn’t really know. Did he have a strong sense of justice, or did he see Craig as a potential friend that he didn’t want to lose so soon?

Craig blinked back to reality when he felt Tricia swipe his phone away out of impatience. She sat back onto the chair and pushed it backwards in a seemingly effortless way of escaping from him.

“Ooh! He says he wants to meet up to apologize! When and where do you want to meet him?”

“I don’t know…” Craig responded with a shrug. “I don’t even know if I want to forgive him just yet.”

“Ohh, good point,” Tricia nodded, tossing the phone back at Craig. “You should show him that you’re still mad, but you do want to talk.”

Craig squinted at her, puzzled. He wasn’t even good at conveying emotions in person, so doing so through text, especially when trying to convey a multi-layered emotion, posed a challenge. Luckily, Tricia was an expert in the art of pettiness.

“Turn on your read receipts, then text him back later. Like, hours later. Make him think you saw the message, but you don’t want to talk to him just yet,” she explained.

“Isn’t that what you always do to me?”

“I sure do.”

 

* * *

 

Around 7:00 in the morning, Tweek bolted out of his house in search of Stark’s Pond. He asked Clyde where it was the night before, but all he said was “by the school”, which was too vague for Tweek to be able to fully understand. In the event that he got lost, he gave himself an extra hour before the meeting time to find the location.

Upon arriving to the front of the school, he looked around for the pond. From where he was standing, he could see several trees grouped together. This gave him a clue to where he was supposed to be, but it also made him suspicious. Was the pond inside a forest? Did he have to go through a forest? Was he about to get lost in a forest? He couldn’t just wander in blindly.

Nearby, Wendy and Heidi were arriving early for a student council meeting when they saw that Tweek was blocking their path. They stood next to him and waited for him to notice them. When he did, he jumped back and went into defensive mode by holding up his fists in front of him.

“Whoa, Tweek, it’s just us!” said Wendy, who held up her hands to calm him down.

“Oh god, you scared me! Why were you just staring at me like that?!” he shouted. He calmed himself and lowered his guard.

“Sorry,” Heidi apologized. “You looked lost, but we didn’t know if you were okay with us touching you to get your attention. By that reaction, you might have hit us.”

“No, you’re right. I’m sorry. I have a tendency to swing at people who come out of nowhere,” Tweek explained, fumbling with the hem of his shirt with guilt.

“Okay, well that aside. Are you trying to go somewhere, or are you looking for someone?” Wendy asked.

“Stark’s Pond,” Tweek answered. “I was told it was somewhere around here?”

“Oh! Wendy, I can take him over there. Could you tell the others that I’ll be a little late?” Heidi offered.

“No! Uh… I kinda want to go alone. I’m meeting someone in private.”

Tweek realized what he had said immediately, but it was too late. The girls were already squealing and looking at him with sparkling eyes.

“You’re meeting with Craig, aren’t you? Aww!” Wendy cooed along with Heidi.

“Yeah, uhh… Can you please just tell me where to go? I kinda want to go now…”

“Oh, right. Just go through the trees that way. It’s not too far from here,” Wendy instructed, pointing up ahead.

Tweek thanked them and ran off, following Wendy’s instructions. He eventually reached the pond after a few minutes of walking. No one was around, so he took a seat on a bench and waited patiently for Craig to arrive. He pulled out his thermos and checked his phone, which showed him that it would be 8 o’clock in 40 minutes. South Park really was a small town.

He twisted off the lid of his thermos and allowed the steam to rush out and warm his face. He watched as the coffee swished around the container from his slightly shaky hands, wondering what life would be like if he had been born normal. The drugged coffee played a large part in his list of issues, from twitching to never sleeping. From the month he spent without it, he saw drastic results, but he still retained certain habits like pulling on his hair or chewing on his fingers when he stressed out. If only his parents allowed him to keep a punching bag in the garage to vent his frustrations.

He brought the open thermos to his lips and took a sip. He couldn’t explain how, but it tasted a little better knowing that it wasn’t drugged. Back in Denver, he had a therapist who told him to try not to get himself into stressful situations. If he was able to, he should do something calming like sit and watch the clouds. Tweek took another sip as he stared at the sky. There was no signs of rain, as the clouds were white and fluffy. Watching clouds move slowly through the sky was boring, and Tweek regretted arriving so early to an area without wi-fi. He missed having friends to text.

Tweek reached into his backpack for a graph-ruled notebook and a pen. Flipping to the back of the book, he tapped the unclicked pen on the page until he could decide on what to do. He settled for filling in every other square, and because the squares were small, it would kill a lot of time.

By the time he reached the end of the page, he heard footsteps coming towards him. His head snapped to the source of the sound with hopes that it was Craig.

“Hey,” Craig greeted in monotone.

“Hey!” said Tweek. He placed the pen inside the notebook and pushed it into his backpack. He stood to walk towards him, but Craig took a seat at the edge of the bench before he could.

“You wanted to meet up?” Craig asked, using his phone to avoid eye contact.

“Yeah! Uh…”

Tweek sat back on the bench and looked down at his feet, which were shifting uncomfortably and digging into the snow. He placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward.

“I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have blamed you, and I shouldn’t have caused a scene. I’m sorry, Craig.”

“Are you prone to overreacting or something?”

Tweek winced at that comment. That was just another way of calling him paranoid without using the word, but this was not the time to get angry about it.

“That’s… what I’ve been told,” he sighed. He knew it was true, but he didn’t want to admit it. His mind briefly wandered to the scene with Jason, who acted just like he did to Craig.

“I’m sorry,” Tweek said, squeezing his knees. “I shouldn’t have acted that way. I’m so sorry. I just…”

“It’s fine, dude. I forgive you, so don’t worry about it anymore.”

Tweek felt a blush creep onto his face from Craig’s words. He didn’t expect Craig to forgive him so easily, but he knew he should tell Craig the truth anyway.

“This has happened to me before,” Tweek admitted with a sigh. He slipped his fingers through the hair on the top of his head and rested his forehead on his palms. “I just couldn’t handle the fact that it was happening again.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on! This has happened to you before?!”

“Yeah,” Tweek confirmed, sitting up to face him.

He began to explain what had happened at his old school: how it started, how Jason reacted, and how the school shunned him. Craig listened for any mention of the Asian girls, but he heard none, though he suspected that they were most likely the culprits for the images spreading through Tweek’s last school.

Craig used Tweek’s story to put together an explanation for why the Asian girls decided to use them as their subjects. The first case with Tweek occurred over a month ago. The second case occurred two days ago. The girls transferred to South Park High a week prior to the second case. Did they come from Denver first, then moved to South Park? There were still so many questions.

“I’m trying to figure out why the drawings were made, so don’t get mad when I ask this,” Craig started, to which Tweek nodded in understanding. “Were you into your friend at all? Like, do you think you might’ve gotten caught staring at him or something?”

“Uh…”

Tweek wondered that himself. He had been questioning his sexuality before the artwork leaked, and the situation only made him more confused. He felt some kind of attraction to Jason at the time, as there were some times where he would catch himself staring at him in a way that crossed the line of friendship, but his feelings slowly went away every time Jason denied questions of a romantic relationship. To this day, the only thing he felt towards his old childhood friend was regret. After the way Jason had treated him, Tweek hoped that they wouldn’t cross paths again.

“Actually, don’t worry about it,” Craig assured, noting Tweek’s solemn expression after mentioning his ex-best friend. “That wouldn’t explain our case, since we don’t even know each other.”

From behind them, a sneeze was heard. The two turned around and spotted Clyde hiding behind a tree. Realizing that he had been discovered, Clyde let out a nervous laugh and walked toward the bench they sat on.

“I can’t believe you were fucking spying on us, dude…” Craig muttered, looking annoyed.

“Well, Craig, you wanted to make up with Tweek,” Clyde started, turning to Craig. “And I didn’t trust you to text him after giving you his number, so I went ahead and gave _your_ number to _him_.”

“How did you know we were going to meet up here?” Craig asked.

“Tweek asked me how to get to Stark’s Pond.”

“B-but how did you know what _time_ we were going to meet?” Tweek asked.

“Wendy told Bebe that you were going to meet someone in private, and she told me, and I knew you were going to meet up with Craig. Obviously.”

“When did you talk to Wendy?” Craig questioned Tweek, who was starting to become nervous from what sounded like an interrogation.

“I was lost, so she and Heidi told me where to go,” Tweek explained. “They wanted to follow me, but I told them I wanted to go alone because I was meeting with someone.”

“God, now they’re going to start more rumors,” Craig groaned, falling back onto the bench. “I can’t imagine what would happen if the Asian girls find out…”

“Asian girls?” Tweek asked. This was the first he had heard of them being involved, though he recalled Craig’s friends asking him if he knew any Asian girls.

“They’re the ones drawing the pictures of you two,” said Clyde.

Tweek fell silent for a moment to assess the situation. In South Park, the ones responsible for filling the town in romantic artwork of him and Craig was a group known as “the Asian girls”. Because it started online, there was a possibility that these girls were responsible for the first case as well, but that was yet to be confirmed. There’s a chance that someone else had made the artwork that lived in Denver, and maybe the Asian girls saw it, but that didn’t explain _why_ they would create artwork of him and Craig, two complete strangers, in the first place. He came up with a solution to cease the rumors, and possibly the artwork, but he didn’t like the idea.

“I think we shouldn’t be seen together anymore,” Tweek spoke suddenly. “To stop the artwork, I mean.”

Before Craig could respond, Tweek gathered his belongings and ran towards the school. He had taken a liking to Craig and his level-headed nature, but they’ve only known each other for a little longer than a day. He didn’t know much about Craig at all, and they were definitely not that close, so there were no attachments to break. Unlike with Jason, there was no 6-year friendship to end, so this wouldn’t be difficult at all.

But unlike Jason, Craig forgave him. He forgave him even before he explained why he had overreacted, and that’s what was going to make this difficult for him to walk away from the person that could’ve been a good friend of his.

 

* * *

 

Craig was shocked, to say the least. He walked into this meeting with two outcomes in mind: another argument leading to them never speaking to each other again, or the start of a new friendship. There were apologies and new information about their situation, but he didn’t expect Tweek to come up with a solution like this. Did he really think not being seen together would work, or did he just not want to speak to Craig anymore?

“It’s not… that bad…” Clyde tried to reassure Craig, though the crack in his voice showed his uncertainty.

“No, of course not. It doesn’t matter to me. Befriending that guy seems like a hassle anyway,” Craig lied, which was shown by how much faster he was speaking than normal.

“Aww, buddy… Don’t be sad! He just said that you guys couldn’t be seen together to stop the pictures! You can still text each other.”

Craig pulled up his and Tweek’s chat on his phone. There were only three messages, all of which were about the meetup. He didn’t know what else to say to him after that, but he wasn’t sure if Tweek would text him back first. Maybe if he did, Craig could respond, and a conversation could start there.

Clyde began to drag Craig, who was still occupied by his phone, to school by his backpack. Upon entering, they saw Stan’s group, plus Cartman, who had finally recovered from the assault from PC Principal. Craig expected Cartman to react negatively to the artwork hanging on the walls, but he instead said nothing, appearing more fascinated than disgusted.

Stan and the others approached Tweek with a welcoming smile, which seemed to surprise him. Right after the greetings, Stan brought up the fight between Tweek and the upperclassmen.

“Oh, that?” Tweek answered. “Uh… I took boxing lessons as a kid, so I can hold my own in a fight.” He appeared proud of himself after saying that by the way a tiny smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

“Sounds sweet,” Kenny commented. “Would be great to have a sparring partner.”

Tweek eyes lit up and he grinned happily at Kenny for that suggestion. He would make for a great potential friend and a fighting partner.

“Oh man, wish I coulda seen it!” Butters said excitedly. “Clyde and the other fellas saw it, and they made it sound so cool!”

“They wanted to know why I was late to class,” Clyde whispered to Craig. The two were pretending to engage themselves in conversation nearby.

“If you didn’t see it, then how do you know it happened?” Cartman sneered. He had nothing against Tweek, but he knew Clyde wasn’t a reliable source at times, especially when you ask him how many girls he’s been with.

“I actually heard it from Token. He came to class late, and you know he doesn’t make things up,” Kyle added.

Craig glanced over at Tweek, careful not to draw attention to himself, and sent him a text. Tweek noticed the sudden vibration in his pocket and pulled out his phone to see who messaged him.

**Craig** : those guys are trouble.

Tweek looked up from his phone and at the guys in front of him. They were engaged in conversation with each other, and Kyle and Cartman seemed to have started another argument.

**Tweek** : They’re dangerous?  
 **Craig** : not so much dangerous, but they come up with crazy schemes that you do not want to get dragged into.  
 **Tweek** : Like they’re adventurous? That doesn’t sound so bad.  
 **Tweek** : If they want to be my friend, then who am I to stop them?

Craig had a feeling that Tweek was in need of friends after the Denver incident, but Stan and his group were not the kind of people that you’d want to get involved with. The crazy schemes that they were always making as kids got Craig into near death situations so many times, the most notable being the time they played superheroes. They were almost killed so many times, Craig regretted not stopping his friends from dragging him along.

_If you want friends so bad, just be friends with me,_ Craig wanted to type, but he remembered what Tweek said earlier. They had to keep their distance to avoid rumors. This was probably caused by the comment Craig made earlier about rumors, which he could only assume that Tweek was doing this for his sake. He mentally slapped himself in the face.

“You texting your boyfriend there, Tweek?” Butters asked, taking a peek at Tweek’s phone.

Craig and Clyde’s ears perked up from the word “boyfriend”. They stayed quiet to listen in to the conversation, but they kept themselves occupied with their phones.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Tweek replied calmly to avoid suspicion.

“Ah, so you and Craig are still fighting?” Kyle asked.

“Uh-oh! Honeymoon’s over!” Cartman joked. He had attempted to piece together the situation upon seeing the artwork, but all he could come up with was that the two were dating. He knew nothing about the argument they had before, but from what Kyle just mentioned, he could tell that one took place in public.

“No, we’re not fighting anymore. We’re just not together.” Answering calmly was difficult for Tweek. He was told that he was good at acting, but the pressuring stares of his peers still made him nervous.

“Okay, well that aside. Come eat lunch with us today,” Stan offered. “You’re pretty cool, so you should hang out with us.”

“Damn, Stan. Way to be a rebound!” Cartman not-so-subtly mumbled in a higher pitched voice.

“Shut up, fatass. I’m not leaving Wendy for the new guy.”

Tweek beamed at his new friends, but he felt a tinge of regret for not truly settling things with Craig. Avoiding him was the first part of his plan to stop the artwork. Once he gathers enough information, possibly from Wendy and the others, then he’ll move on to the next phase. For now, he’ll follow these guys around to see what they’re like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tweek Tweak is a soft, beautiful magic boy who just wants friends. 
> 
> Also if you didn’t get it, Craig’s phone number is the anniversary of Creek becoming canon [1028015 = 10-28-(2)015]
> 
> [Last note I promise] I finished the outline for the next chapter, so expect it in a few days! Thank you all for reading, liking, commenting, and supporting! You guys motivate me to keep writing more!


	4. Initiation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I have a plan for this story after all! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Craig watched as Tweek left with his rivals? Enemies? He didn’t know what to call them, but he just knew that they were definitely going to drag Tweek into something crazy. He just hoped that Tweek would realize that they’re not the people he should hang out with. For now, he’ll watch over him quietly. Through text.

When he and Clyde walked into their first class, Tweek was already at his seat. He was attempting to fold strips of paper into tiny stars, which caught Craig’s attention. When he sat down, he texted Tweek about them.

**Tweek** : They’re called lucky stars. I make them as stress relievers.  
 **Craig** : i wanna make some too. teach me. give me some paper.  
 **Tweek** : Maybe later. Wouldn’t it be weird if people noticed that we’re doing the same thing?  
 **Craig** : oh yeah.

Craig cursed himself for going along with Tweek’s plan, but as long as he kept wanting to deny and prevent rumors, there wasn’t much he could do. He wasn’t dating Tweek, nor did he want to. He wasn’t gay. Of course not. He just wanted to befriend the guy, that’s all.

“Hey Tweek! What’re you doing?” Clyde asked, leaning so far off of his desk that there had to be some kind of trick he was using against gravity to keep him from falling over.

Tweek explained the stars to Clyde, as well as how to make them. Craig listened in to their conversation while keeping himself busy by scrolling through comics on Instagram. His favorite comic artist had posted new content, but Craig was too distracted by the jealousy he had of Clyde due to how freely he was able to talk with Tweek. He wasn’t restricted to texting in secret like Craig. Just to mess with Clyde, Craig pulled up his and Tweek’s chat again.

**Craig** : if he’s annoying you, just tell him. it’s normal for him to get annoying so just hit him and he’ll stop.

Tweek tried his best to stifle a laugh, but a tiny snort slipped out. Even though Clyde didn’t know what the message said, he knew that it had to have been Craig talking shit about him. He was the one who told Craig to text Tweek instead of directly speaking to him, plus he could see the smirk on Craig’s face.

The secret texting didn’t go unnoticed by Craig’s friends, and Clyde was awful at keeping secrets. As soon as their first class ended, the gang approached Craig with “I-know-your-secret” smiles. Tweek walked off and pretended not to notice them to prevent himself from being dragged into a conversation involving Craig.

“I know what you’re going to say, so I’ll stop you right now. This means nothing,” Craig tried to explain, but even he knew that his friends wouldn’t buy it.

“It’s almost s-s-sad, Craig,” Jimmy noted with concern for his friend. “Are you sure you w-wa-wa-want to keep hiding around?”

“If it stops the art, then I’ll be fine,” Craig answered.

The sly smiles disappeared and were replaced with concerned looks. The group started whispering as if Craig weren’t there, and Craig tuned them out to continue texting Tweek. Tweek didn’t respond for almost five minutes, so he coughed to get the group’s attention.

“You guys done whispering about me yet?”

“Sorry Craig, it’s just…” Token put a hand on Craig’s shoulder and sighed. “You’re just _never_ going to talk to him in person, then? Not even in private?”

“The rumors were right,” Clyde pointed out, returning to his previous grin. “Craig really does have a secret boyfriend.”

“Clyde,” Craig started, pushing Token’s hand off of him. “You better stop insinuating that I’m gay, or I’ll kick your ass. I’m not gay.”

“Hey, chill,” said Token, who stepped in front of Clyde. “We’re not hinting at anything. We believe you. You’re not gay, and nothing that’s been happening lately means anything.”

Craig put a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath. This was going to be one hell of a week.

 

* * *

 

Tweek’s last class before lunch was with Stan, so he walked him over to their usual table in the cafeteria. Upon sitting down, he was met with an attempting-to-be-serious Cartman, who had his hands folded like a manager interviewing a potential employee.

“So, Tweek,” Cartman began, looking the boy up and down. “Not anyone can hang out with us, so we need to see if you’re worthy.”

“Oh boy, Tweek! You’re going to have an initiation too!” Butters cheered, smiling happily at Tweek.

“Oh, come on, Cartman. He doesn’t need an initiation,” said Kyle, who shot Cartman an annoyed look. “Don’t worry about it, dude. We’re not gonna--”

“Kahl, you’ll like what I’ve come up with for him. This benefits you too.”

Normally, Kyle would oppose, but he was interested in what Cartman had in mind. It was rare for a plan made by Cartman to benefit him in any way, seeing how most were made just to mess with him. Tweek nodded and listened carefully for his instructions.

“There’s two video games coming out tomorrow that we want, and we need you to skip class to get it. You can only get both for the price of one tomorrow, and they’re not letting anyone camp outside for it, which means you’ll have to leave your house early. I’m sending Kenny with you, so get 4 copies: one for me, Stan, Kyle, and Ken. Ken will tell you the details. Are you up for the job?”

“Huh?! Skip?! How long will I have to be gone?!”

“Hey, uh, fellas? Why am I not getting one?”

“Shut up, Butters,” Cartman ordered. “Tweek, this is important to us. Each one of us would’ve done it, but since you’re the one doing the initiation, you have to do it. Now, are you up for the job?”

“Uh…” Tweek was unsure of how to respond. Were friend initiations common in South Park, or was high school always this complicated? He’s had the same few friends since elementary, so all of this was new to him. But he couldn’t lose his new friends so soon.

“I’ll be there too,” Kenny assured, patting Tweek on the back lightly. “It’ll be fine.”

“Oh, then… I guess I can do it,” Tweek affirmed, putting on his best determined face. “Leave it to me!”

 

* * *

 

 

It became a routine for Craig and Tricia to talk about Tweek, as Tricia became increasingly interested in her brother’s struggles. As someone who knows what he’s like behind closed doors, she felt the need to be the one that knows everything about her brother. That doesn’t mean she won’t start going about it in a nicer way, though.

“So am I gonna meet your future husband soon, or did you manage to fuck up everything with him?”

From his bed, Craig looked up from his phone to see Tricia barging into his room, but he quickly turned his attention back to his phone. He had been texting Tweek for the past few minutes about their favorite television shows.

Tricia noted this lack of attention as something good, so she sat on his desk chair, the back rest of the chair pressing against her chest, and rolled over to his bedside.

“What do you call him in your phone?”

“Nothing. It’s just his number. Stuff happened, so we’re kinda texting each other secretly.”

“What?” Tricia questioned, snatching the phone from her brother.

It was just as he said. No Tweek, no pet name, nothing. It was only a phone number. What the hell did this idiot do when she wasn’t around?

“You’re treating him like some kid in your science class whose number you only need for a project. I guess it’s good that you’re texting him now, but what happened?”

“He doesn’t want to be seen with me because he thinks that will stop the rumors. Apparently this happened at his old school, and he doesn’t want to relive it.”

“Well, did the rumors stop?” she asked, tossing the phone back at Craig.

_Did they?_ Craig wondered. He was so focused on trying to text Tweek without anyone knowing that he hadn’t bothered to listen in on any rumors, or see if any new artwork had been posted. Given, not even a day has passed since Tweek decided to avoid him, so it’s not like he’ll be seeing any results any time soon.

“Dude, either someone’s gonna find you guys out eventually, or you’ll be the one who gets sick of hiding around. You just want to be friends with the guy, so what’s a few rumors stopping you from doing that?”

“ _He’s_ the one who wants to avoid me.”

“And _you’re_ the one who’s allowing it. What happened at his last school that’s got him so traumatized?”

“He was being drawn with his friend, who didn’t take it too well. Basically, that guy and the whole school got really angry and blamed Tweek, so he was shunned and stuff. Pretty shitty friend, if you ask me.”

Tricia thought for a moment while Craig returned to his and Tweek’s conversation. Tweek had finally brought up what was going on with Cartman and the others.

**Craig** : the fuck are you doing an initiation for?  
 **Tweek** : Cartman says I have to prove myself to them. Why, is that not normal?  
 **Craig** : no??? normal people don’t do that??? i told you they were trouble.  
 **Tweek** : Well I want to try. It sounds interesting, even if I have to ditch school. I’m going with this guy Kenny to get video games for them. They already paid us, so it’s not like they’re using me for my money or anything.  
 **Craig** : for someone who thinks that aliens are the answer to every inconvenience, you sure are positive about these “potential friends”.  
 **Tweek** : Hey! Don’t dismiss the possibility of aliens, man! They’re real!  
 **Craig** : i wasn’t. i just don’t think they’re the cause of certain phenomenons that have a perfectly good scientific explanation behind them.  
 **Tweek** : I’ll remember this when the aliens come.  
 **Craig** : okay, okay, that aside. you’re going with kenny, right? mccormick? raggedy orange jacket?  
 **Tweek** : Yes? Why?  
 **Craig** : be on your guard. he’s a flirt.

“I think he’s worried about you,” Tricia spoke up, causing Craig to turn away from his phone. “He probably thinks that you hate all of the attention, and he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened last time.”

“We’re past that, though. Both of us saw the art, and even though we fought about it, we already made up. It won’t be a repeat of last time.”

“So why don’t you tell him that? Ignore the rumors and hang out with him like normal friends.”

“Because I don’t need people thinking I’m gay, Tricia,” Craig sighed. He didn’t have the energy to argue about it anymore, but the need to protect his image was still there.

He looked back at his phone to see what Tweek had responded with.

**Tweek** : He won’t flirt with me. I’m not attractive.

_That’s not true,_ Craig typed, but he stopped himself from hitting send and erased it. He can’t just indirectly call this guy attractive. That would be weird. Straight guys don’t comment on each other’s attractiveness, even as a way of cheering them up. They just don’t, and he wasn’t about to challenge that.

**Craig** : i’m just giving you a heads up.

 

* * *

 

Around 6 in the morning, Tweek was startled awake by the X-files theme blasting throughout his room. When he picked up his phone, he saw that it was Kenny calling.

“Dude, I’m on my way to your place, so get ready!”

Kenny hung up, leaving Tweek to scramble out of bed and get ready as quickly as possible. He knew that he had to pick up the games today, but he completely forgot about the part about waking up early to do so. He left the house without his coffee thermos or breakfast, which he knew he was going to regret greatly.

A few feet away, Kenny waved Tweek over with a tired smile. He wasn’t a fan of waking up early either, but he volunteered for himself to accompany Tweek with the intention of getting to know him better. He was serious about Tweek being his sparring partner, after all.

“Sorry!” Tweek apologized. “I forgot that we were meeting early!”

“No worries, dude, but we should really get going.”

The boys rushed over to the nearest GameShop, just to find a line that stretched down several buildings. Kenny grabbed Tweek by the wrist and slid into the end of the line, beating two guys who tried to take their place.

“Whoo! We made it! That wasn’t so bad, huh?”

“The line doesn’t look _that_ long, but we might be here for a while,” Tweek noted.

“Yeah, but you brought food, right?”

Tweek’s face fell. Not only did he forget about the meeting time, but he forgot about the food as well. He was surprised that he managed to change out of his pajamas. Not only that, but he heard that Kenny was poor, so he was going to cause Kenny to starve because of his forgetfulness. Ten minutes into his initiation, and he was already screwing everything up. His hands met his head as his fingers curled and pulled his hair.

“Kenny, I’m so sorry!” he apologized loudly, earning stares from the others in line. “I completely forgot about the food!”

“Dude, don’t worry about it! I’ll wait here, so you can go get some now.”

“Oh! R-right!”

Tweek looked around at all the buildings nearby until he realized that he didn’t know where to go. He could’ve ran home, but his parents would ask him what he was doing wandering around so early, and he couldn’t tell them that he was going to skip class for video games.

“Wait, you’re new here. I’ll go instead, so you don’t get lost,” Kenny offered. “I’ll give you the money that the guys gave me, and you can give me, like, ten dollars for snacks and drinks. What do you want me to get?”

“Oh, uh… Thank you!”

The two dug into their pockets for the money and traded. Tweek took the wad of cash Kenny handed him and pushed it into his shirt pocket, where he knew that no one could steal it without him noticing. It looked awkward and bulky, but he wasn’t going to let anyone take his friends’ hard earned money.

“Um… If it’s not too much trouble, do you think you can get me some coffee? It doesn’t matter what brand, as long as it’s plain black. Oh, and any kind of cereal is fine.”

“Black, huh? That’s pretty grown-up,” said Kenny, who aimed finger guns and a wink as he left.

_Standing in line isn’t hard,_ Tweek told himself. Kenny was nice enough to not get mad at him for being forgetful, which Tweek was very grateful for. It must’ve taken a lot of willpower to not scream at him for being so incompetent.

He pulled out his phone and debated on whether or not to text Craig, since it was still early. He assumed that he was still asleep, so maybe a single “good morning” text would be appropriate? Or is that just for couples?

**Tweek** : Morning, asshole.

_Perfect._ He remembered how Craig proclaimed himself to be an asshole when he told him he was nice, and addressing him as such made him snicker to himself quietly. The idea of Craig wanting to appear apathetic was funny to Tweek, seeing how the majority of their interactions didn’t depict him like that. During the fight against the upperclassmen, Craig was shown to be sarcastic and harsh with his comebacks, which Tweek could admit was pretty cool. Other than that, the guy seemed like an awkward nerd. When he texted him throughout the previous day, he learned that Craig was really interested in space and pets. His favorite show was Red Racer, despite it being a kid’s show, and his favorite color was blue. He also had a sweet tooth, and Tweek considered the thought of baking him something like cookies or cupcakes when the artwork situation died down.

Thinking about the artwork was always so depressing. Every now and then, especially when Tweek is enjoying himself, the haunting memory of the last incident creeps up on him and knocks him down. His desperation for friends stemmed from this, and he was determined to successfully overcome the trials that his current group gives him. His first mission wasn’t so bad, and Kenny was good company.

What he didn’t understand was why things had to happen the way they did between him and Craig. They were friends, that was no question. Mere acquaintances don’t text each other back and forth as often as they did. For this current situation, the artwork was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing that led to their friendship, but the fact that their friendship had to be kept secret for the time being made it a curse. If Tweek were to fall for Craig, the same scenario might happen again, and he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

That’s why him and Craig will remain friends, and nothing else. Secret friends who enjoy talking to and getting to know each other. Just friends who’ve been thrust into a situation that they had no say in.

“Looks like we’ve made some progress,” Kenny smiled, handing Tweek a paper cup of steaming hot coffee and a plastic bag with a container of packaged frosted cornflakes inside.

“We’ve gone through a couple of people,” Tweek nodded, looking in front of him. “And thanks again.”

“Hold that thought. I’m gonna get the change…”

“You can keep it,” Tweek offered. “I don’t need it.”

That was a lie, but Tweek didn’t know how to say “because you’re poor” without using those words. Besides, Kenny deserved it for putting up with him and bringing him the food and coffee he managed to forget to bring.

“Dude, you’re the best!” Kenny said excitedly, pocketing the small amount of change that was left.

Tweek let the plastic bag slide down to his elbow and brought the cup to his nose to smell it. The scent was different from his parents’ blend, but it wasn’t bad. He guessed that it was gas station coffee. Not that he was complaining. He took a sip. It wasn’t that great, but it’s better than nothing.

“So…” Kenny started, grinning at Tweek. “We should get to know each other, seeing how we’ll be here for a while.”

“What do you want to know?” Tweek asked, taking a step forward when the line moved,

“What made you move to South Park?”

Tweek hummed nervously as he took a loud slurp from his coffee. The main reason was because of his parents, and they certainly wouldn’t appreciate him exposing the business of their wrongdoings. He hoped that his obnoxious slurping and attempt to show Kenny he was uncomfortable would be enough to get the topic to change.

“Okay, maybe not that,” Kenny laughed awkwardly. “Let’s start with something easy. Here, let’s just ask each other questions, okay? You can go first.”

When Stan’s group first approached him the other day, Kenny mentioned something about being his sparring partner, so Tweek decided on asking about that.

“You mentioned something about me being your sparring partner?” Tweek recalled.

“Yeah, that! I was totally serious about that!”

In a hushed tone, Kenny discussed his days as Mysterion. He told Tweek about how he originally trained himself in martial arts to protect his little sister, and it eventually led to him fighting crime on the streets. He eventually brought up the Coon and Friends versus Freedom Pals days, which Tweek was very curious about. The adventures seemed scary, but the idea of protecting the town interested Tweek. He seemed more interested in the idea of Craig being a superhero, and the two laughed about how lazy his costume was.

“What would your superhero name be?” Kenny asked. “Also what would your powers be?”

“Wonder Tweek,” Tweek answered immediately. He had thought about his superhero persona when he was a kid, but none of his friends cared much for superheros to consider dressing up with him. “I would have powers over the elements, like ice and lightning.”

“Wonder Tweek, huh?” said Kenny. “So you want to be the Wonder Woman to Craig’s Superman?”

“Huh?!” Tweek had forgotten that Craig’s persona was Super Craig, which would make the two of them a duo. He felt his cheeks heat up at the thought of being Craig’s character’s love interest, but he shook his head wildly to dismiss the thought.

“Aww, Tweek!” Kenny cooed, cupping his cheeks with his hands. “That’s so cute!”

“It’s not like that!” Tweek retorted, but his blush wouldn’t go away. “I forgot what his character was, okay?”

Kenny put his hands up in surrender and laughed. When he wasn’t acting, Tweek really was an open book, and Kenny happened to be one of the many students at South Park High who legitimately thought the two would look good together.

The two discussed life stories and random facts about themselves. They were happy to find out things they had in common, such as having shitty parents and rough childhoods. Kenny kept quiet about his immortality, but it sometimes slipped during conversation when he would end a story with “and then I died”, which Tweek just assumed was an exaggeration. During the conversation, Tweek would sneak texts to Craig who had woken up, but Kenny’s close proximity made sneaking around impossible.

Once they finally reached the front of the line after hours of chatter, Tweek proudly pulled out the wad of cash that he was able to protect. He rolled off the rubber band and handed a stack of twenty dollar bills to the man at the register, who gave him 4 copies of the games that the others wanted. He handed the games to Kenny, who shoved them into his worn out backpack. As they walked off, they could hear the cashier telling the crowd that they had just sold out of the game. Kenny and Tweek grinned at each other, then made their way out of the store.

On their way back to the school, the two were stopped by a group of five who stood in line behind them before the games were sold out.

“Do you really need four of them?” A chubby girl in a dress with the game’s mascot’s head all over it asked. “We’ll pay you for just one. In cash, too!”

Tweek looked over at Kenny, who shook his head.

“Sorry, but these are for our friends,” Kenny replied.

“All four? Seriously? You guys can’t just share?” said a lanky guy in a black oversized hoodie.

“I’m sorry, but we were told to get four,” Tweek answered, sensing a bit of hostility in the guy’s voice.

The group conversed with each other silently by mouthing out words and nodding. The shortest girl in the group lunged forward to trip Kenny with a low sweeping kick, but Kenny saw through her right away. He jumped up as her foot swept under him and kicked the girl on the side of her face, knocking her head into the sidewalk. The angered group charged at Kenny for their fallen friend, but Kenny was too quick for all of them. Though he gave up his superhero persona long ago, he never stopped training. He dodged attacks left and right and dealt powerful kicks to his foes. A front push kick to the groin, a reverse roundhouse kick to the face, a jumping kick to the chest. Tweek had seen all of these before, and he was fascinated to watch them be used in actual combat.

Not wanting to just stand by and let Kenny do all the work, Tweek joined in the fight as well. Two of the remaining members had their eyes locked on Tweek in the event that he tried to fight back. Both were fashionable girls in heels who looked as if joining a fight would ruin their appearance, but that didn’t stop them. One had long, sharp nails who scratched Tweek’s cheek. The other had a self defense cat keychain that she slipped her fingers through like a knuckle and jabbed at Tweek.

_Dodge her attack, push her arm aside with your left hand, and now her jaw is exposed. Right cross to the jaw, knock her out._

When the girl fell, the other grabbed her keychain and tried to jab at Tweek as well.

_Duck to avoid the weapon, then a straight punch to the stomach._

The girl fell forward with a grunt, lost control of her balance, then twisted her ankle on her way down. Her scream startled Tweek, who instantly started to feel remorse, but Kenny grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him towards the school.

“There’s no time for pity! They attacked us first, so let’s get going!”

 

* * *

 

They arrived at the courtyard of the school out of breath. Kenny took off his backpack to check on the games, and to his relief, they were fine. He gave Tweek a thumbs up, which Tweek returned.

“We both saw some pretty cool shit today, huh?” Kenny chuckled. “You were a badass out there, buddy!”

Tweek perked up from Kenny’s words. He was more than happy to be considered a friend to Kenny, making him the second person whom he knew his friendship status with. He was still doing the initiation for Stan and the others, and he didn’t exactly know where he stood when it came to Craig’s friends.

“You were really cool, too! Your fighting style is amazing! Wish I could’ve seen you during your superhero days!”

“Aww, come on, you’re making me blush. Don’t act like you don’t have insane moves yourself,” Kenny complimented with a wink.

Tweek wondered if the constant winking was what Craig referred to as being a flirt, but he still didn’t believe that made Kenny interested in him. If anything, it just seemed like a quirk of his, or just a part of his character.

He pulled out his phone to see two texts from Craig. The first was a continuation of their conversation, and the other was sent a second ago, which asked if he was okay. Tweek was surprised to see that Craig was worried about him after not texting back for only ten minutes.

“Tell him ‘I’m fine, but not as fine as you’, then send a winking emoji,” Kenny teased, standing behind Tweek and placing his hands on his shoulders.

“Dude, come on!” Tweek whined, annoyed by the numerous times that Kenny had joked about their relationship. “What makes you think that we’re together?”

“I don’t think you’re together, but I think that you _should_ be together,” Kenny answered, removing his hands from Tweek and taking a seat on the steps to the front door. “Don’t you like him?”

“I… I’ve only known him for a little over two days…” Tweek mumbled, sitting a foot away from Kenny on the stairs. “It wouldn’t make sense to fall for him, especially with all this dumb shit we’re both going through. It would just confirm the rumors, and he’ll get mad. He doesn’t like the rumors.”

Tweek sighed heavily and rested his chin on his hands. He wasn’t in love with Craig, or at least he didn’t think he was. He liked him and thought he was really nice, and the text asking if he was alright showed that Craig cared about him, but it’s not like that meant he was romantically attracted to him. That would just lead to problems.

“It’s probably just the situation you’re in that’s making you think about him like that. It’s probably nothing,” Kenny guessed.

_Was it really just their situation that’s causing him to feel this way?_ Tweek wondered. It made sense for him to feel confusion, but attraction? That seemed improbable. There was just no way… Right?

The boys were able to hear the bell that signaled the end of third period from where they were sitting, and as soon as they could hear footsteps and chatter leaving the classrooms, they snuck inside the school and walked off to their next classes. Kenny waved goodbye to Tweek, but Tweek could only return it half assed, as his mind was still on Craig. He remembered that he had yet to text Craig back, but for just a second, he caught his eye as Craig was leaving from his classroom. Both of them turned to their phones and walked off.

**Craig** : what the fuck happened to your face  
 **Tweek** : It’s nothing. Just a scratch.  
 **Craig** : how did that happen?  
 **Tweek** : It’s fine, you big baby. I’ll be fine, so stop worrying.  
 **Craig** : who tf are you calling a big baby? you’re the big baby.

Tweek paid no attention to the wound caused by the girl’s sharp nails up until now. He touched the scars on his cheek lightly. They had already closed up, but he could feel a bit of dried blood when he trailed down. He walked into the bathroom to wash off the blood and patch it up with his always-on-hand medical kit so that he wouldn’t draw too much attention to himself. He was injured often, so he kept bandages nearby just in case. A patch of gauze taped to his face wasn’t exactly subtle, but it was better than four lines of scarring that looked like he had pissed off a cat.

 

* * *

 

 

As he walked with Tweek to their lunch table, Stan ranted about his father signing him up for driving classes just so he could have someone to drive him around when he was drunk. Tweek started to wonder if everyone had terrible parents at this point. From afar, he could see Kenny waving them over shouting, “we got the stuff” while holding his backpack in the air.

Kenny handed out a plastic wrapped combo-pack to each of his friends, who all began ripping it open as if they were children who had been given their Christmas presents. He looked down at the last one in his hands, then turned to a sad and envious looking Butters.

“Here,” Kenny offered, holding the game out for Butters.

“G-Gee, Ken, are you sure?” Butters asked nervously, though he had already taken the game out of Kenny’s hand.

Kenny nodded with a friendly smile. Tweek, who was watching the exchange, could feel Kenny’s kindness, even though it wasn’t directed at him. He wondered if Craig had anything bad to say about Kenny, because he was prepared to shoot each bit of criticism down.

“So Kenny said you beat up some stupid girls for these games. That’s pretty fuckin’ hilarious dude, so you definitely pass this test,” Cartman noted, nodding in approval.

“Uh...great?” Tweek replied, unsure of how to respond to that kind of compliment. He didn’t feel good about making those girls cry, but they attacked him just for a video game, so that’s on them.

“That was just the first part of your initiation. I’m gonna come up with the next one tomorrow at lunch, so Stan, make sure he comes straight here,” Cartman instructed, admiring his new games.

Secretly texting Craig at this moment wouldn’t be difficult, seeing how the only person who could see him do so was Kenny, and he already knew about it. Like Craig, Tweek also had him under his phone number rather than his actual name.

**Tweek** : I passed the first part of the initiation.  
 **Craig** : you got hurt during the initiation, didn’t you? i keep telling you that those guys are trouble.  
 **Tweek** : I told you that everything’s fine. I’m friends with Kenny now, and if I pass all their tests, I can be friends with all of them.  
 **Craig** : whatever dude. just don’t let them force you to do something you don’t want to do.  
 **Tweek** : You wanna hear something that will piss you off?  
 **Craig** : what?  
 **Tweek** : You really are nice.  
 **Craig** : shut the fuck up  
 **Tweek** : For an asshole, of course.

 

* * *

 

Craig was so absorbed into his conversation with Tweek that he didn’t notice that his friends were making fun of his suddenly larger range of emotions.

“Earth to Craig. Come in, Craig,” said Clyde, who was imitating the sound of a radio. “We have good news for you, Craig, but you have to put the phone down.”

Craig shoved his phone into his pocket and stared straight in front of him with a bored expression.

“It looks like Craig has l-learned some new emotions,” Jimmy pointed out with a small chuckle.

“But seriously, dude,” Token started, ending the group teasing. “You might not have noticed this since you’ve been so obsessed with your little buddy over there, but the guys and I have been keeping our ears open and eyes peeled for you.”

“Open for what?” Craig asked.

“For any rumors or artwork,” Jimmy explained.

“Right,” Token confirmed. “So Tweek decided to avoid you yesterday morning to stop the rumors, and here’s what has happened so far: yesterday, rumors have gone around that you two have broken up for good. Up until this lunch period, nothing has been said about you two. As for the artwork, Clyde was in charge of looking for anything new.”

“Here’s what I learned!” Clyde said excitedly. “I checked around the school for anything new artwork, but it was just the same stuff as before. The Asian girls actually started taking some of them down because they were outdated, but they didn’t put anything new up because they didn’t have anything new. Tweek’s plan is working, dude!”

Craig was surprised, yet happy that his friends would do this for him, but he didn’t want to show it. He only muttered “oh” in response as he bit the insides of his cheeks to prevent a smile.

“I th-th-th-think he’s happy, you guys,” Jimmy grinned.

“Yeah, but even if the rumors and artwork have stopped for now, what will happen if you decide to talk to Tweek in person one day? You’ll just be facing the same problem again,” Token warned. “You better decide now: will you befriend him despite the rumors, or will you hide for the rest of your life? Or the third option, which is cutting him off completely.”

The second option seemed way too tedious, and he liked Tweek too much to do the third. That left Craig with the first, but was he ready to walk the halls of this school branded as a sexuality that conflicted with his entire life image? More importantly, how would Tweek feel if he let his efforts go to waste for his own selfish reasons?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who heckin loves Kenny ships. Give me that non-existent in canon Kenny and Tweek friendship.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~when you're supposed to be studying for finals but you're writing a fanfic instead~~


	5. Acting Skills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny because I keep saying that I'll update late because of school, but I care way more about this fic than I do about school. ~~Save me.~~ Regardless, thank you all for your support!

Two hours had passed since Craig had gotten home, and Tricia hadn’t heard anything from him since. Were things going well, were they going badly, or did nothing important happen? She had no idea, since Craig hadn’t said anything to her. There was only one way to find out.

“Craig!” Tricia called out, barging into his room. “You haven’t told me anything new, and you’ve been home for two hours now!”

“That’s because nothing interesting happened today,” said Craig nonchalantly. “Just the same old stuff. Now get out.”

He was too busy entertaining Tweek about conspiracy theories to explain to Tricia that literally nothing had improved about their relationship. He was as confused as ever, and he didn’t feel like talking about it any more today, as he had already exhausted himself by doing so with his friends. He did learn more information, but he knew that Tricia would just suggest the same thing: forget about the rumors, and accept that people think that he’s gay. His and Tweek’s relationship was perfectly fine the way it was.

“Seriously? You didn’t do anything?”

“No, now get out,” Craig ordered, swinging his feet off of his bed to push Tricia out and shut the door in her face.

Tricia huffed and pouted from outside her brother’s door. To her, this could only mean that something happened that he didn’t want to talk about, but she hated being left in the dark.

“You’re such a useless homosexual, Craig,” she muttered before storming off to her own room. She didn’t notice her father standing at the top of the stairs when she walked by.

 

* * *

 

Just as his friends said, Craig noticed that the rumors really have stopped. On his way to school, he didn’t see a single piece of artwork. To his right, he could see the booths the Asian girls had set up to sell their work, and while there were a few drawings of him and Tweek, the majority were landscape paintings, fantasy sceneries, and some traditional Japanese, Chinese, and Korean style paintings. There were also signs with the words “portrait commissions” on them. Aside from that, the yaoi artwork was no longer constantly in his face. Craig pulled out his phone to tell Tweek the good news.

 **Craig** : your plan worked. there’s almost no artwork left, and no one seems to be talking about us.  
**Tweek** : That’s great! You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that!  
**Craig** : so what now? do we keep hiding around or what?  
**Tweek** : I have a plan, so don’t worry. It’s my fault after all, so I’ll deal with it.

Craig wondered what made Tweek think this was his responsibility. Maybe this was his way of apologizing for starting an argument, or maybe he was just determined to prevent any more yaoi artwork of him and someone else from ever being created again. Craig didn’t know, but he felt bad that Tweek was trying to handle everything on his own when it wasn’t even his fault to begin with.

 **Craig** : anything I can do to help?  
**Tweek** : Just keep avoiding me for now. I don’t want anyone to get suspicious.

 

* * *

 

The first person Tweek reached out to when he arrived at school was Kenny. He was busy chatting with Butters and Stan.

“What’s up, dude?” Kenny asked. Stan and Butters watched curiously.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” He kept his focus on Kenny, ignoring the questioning looks from the other two.

“Sure, dude.”

Kenny followed Tweek to his locker where, in a hushed voice, Tweek told him that he needed answers. He couldn’t help but laugh at the way Tweek was acting, even though he already knew why.

“Are you trying to fix the you and Craig situation?”

“Yes, and I think I’ll have to talk to the Asian girls. Do you know where to find them?”

“You know… That might be difficult,” Kenny explained. “I watched Craig try to talk to them the day their art was presented to the school, but they kept ignoring him and speaking in different languages. Do you know Japanese? Or Korean?”

“No…” Tweek mumbled. Teaching himself a new language was not on his agenda, and he didn’t think it would be possible to learn one well enough to understand when people spoke the language to him.

“Actually…” Kenny hummed thoughtfully, folding his arms and putting his finger to his chin. “Have you met Wendy Testaburger? Stan’s girlfriend? She was the one who made the presentation, so I’m pretty sure she was able to talk to them somehow. I mean, they speak English, but the things they say to each other in their own language will probably help your situation more.”

“I do know her! I have second period with her!” Tweek exclaimed, excited about the possible progression of his plan. He grabbed Kenny’s hand and beamed at him. “This is so helpful! Thank you!”

From afar, Kenny could see a jealous Craig glaring at him with his locker door covering his face halfway. He lightly touched his fingers to the patch of gauze Tweek had put on his face from the day before, which startled him.

“Sorry you had to go through that, but you took them on like a champ.”

“I’m totally fine. Craig’s super worried though,” Tweek pointed out, completely oblivious to Kenny’s intentions. “He probably doesn’t think I can take care of myself.”

“I think he knows you can handle yourself. He just cares about you, that’s all.”

“Yeah…” Tweek agreed, blushing slightly. “I’m gonna head to class now, so I’ll see you later.”

No one but Craig was watching that interaction, but if they were, they would’ve thought Tweek’s reaction was because of Kenny’s flirting, which is exactly what Craig was thinking. Kenny was well aware of this, and he strolled over to the boy’s locker with a cheeky grin.

“Heyyyy, Tucker! Got something on your face. Looks like jealousy.”

“Stop hitting on him, asshole. He already has a lot on his plate, so whatever you and your shitty friends have planned for him, he better not come out hurt. I’ll hunt each one of you down,” Craig threatened. The level-headed Craig was long gone, leaving an uncharacteristically angry Craig in his place.

“What’s gotten into you, Craigory? You guys aren’t dating or anything, so why so protective?”

“We don’t have to be dating for me to kick your ass if you get him hurt.”

“You’re being unnecessarily overprotective, dude. He’s a tough kid. You know that.”

Craig took a moment to breathe, then closed his locker. He didn’t know why he lost his composure like that. Kenny was the most tolerable of his group, and he was the one Tweek trusted the most, so there was no reason to threaten him like that. If anything, he should be directing his threats to Cartman, as he probably didn’t give a damn about Tweek’s safety.

“You’re right. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You know, if Tweek didn’t tell you already, he has a plan to fix things for you two. That’s what we were talking about just now.”

Craig was quiet for a moment. Kenny knew about Tweek’s plan, so discussing his thoughts on the plan with Kenny wouldn’t involve a lot of explaining. But how much did Kenny actually know?

“I know. He doesn’t want me to help. He just told me to keep avoiding him for the time being.”

“If he’s keeping it a secret from you, then I guess I won’t tell you anything,” Kenny teased, causing Craig to regret what he said. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his tattered parka and spun on his heel to face the direction of his first class. “And by the way, we may have spent a lot of time together lately, but I wouldn’t hit on him.” He leaned back as far as his flexibility allowed him. “You’re welcome.”

There was no point at glaring at Kenny now that he had left, so Craig began walking as well. He was only a few doors away from his and Tweek’s first class when a girl had stopped him.

“Hi, Craig!” she greeted.

Craig vaguely recognized her face. She might’ve been in one of his classes, but he didn’t care enough to pay attention, much less ask the girl about it to confirm. From behind an open locker, he could see two other girls spying on them, much like the way he had been watching Kenny and Tweek. He can hear them whispering and giggling quietly as well.

“Uh… Hey?” he responded. He didn’t know what to say to this girl, but he had a feeling that he knew what she was going to ask from the way she was playing with her hair and glancing back at her friends.

“Um… How’s it going?”

Craig glanced at his classroom, then turned back to the girl. “I kind of have to be somewhere right now,” he told her, gesturing at the room with a lazy hand movement.

“Sorry! I don’t mean to waste your time. I know you just broke up with your boyfriend and all, but a friend of mine was wondering if… by any chance… you’re bi? Or are you strictly gay, because that’s totally fine and all--”

“I’m not interested.” Craig stopped her with a raised hand. He left the girl stunned by his reaction and walked off.

 

* * *

 

From the corner of his eye, Craig watched Tweek practically sprint out of the classroom after the bell rang. He wanted to follow him, but Clyde stopped him to whine about something insignificant.

On the other hand, Tweek planned to stand outside his next class with hopes of running into Wendy. He spotted her about to walk up the stairs, so he called her name with a wave. She turned to him with a curious smile, as she was surprised to see him intentionally starting a conversation with her for once.

“This is a nice surprise, Tweek,” she commented. “Did you want to walk with me to class?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you for a favor. If that’s okay, of course.”

He knew his relationship with Wendy was nowhere near the kind he had with Craig and Kenny, so he wasn’t sure about whether it was fair for him to suddenly ask favors of her. She seemed to like him, though the thought of her being obsessed with his imaginary romantic relationship irked him. While most of the school seemed to believe that he and Craig had broken up, Wendy and her friends believed that they were only struggling, but they were still in love.

“Of course. I’d be happy to help. Let’s talk and walk so we won’t be late.”

“Kenny says that you’ve talked to the Asian girls before. Do you speak their language?”

“I can speak Japanese, but that’ll only help with a few of them,” Wendy explained. “They can speak English, though. Why do you ask?”

“Sorry. This will be long,” Tweek warned. “Kenny told me that Craig talked to them to ask about the artwork right after it started, but they kept ignoring him and speaking in their own native languages. I get the feeling that the same thing will happen to me if I try to talk to them, so I wanted to ask you to talk to them in my place. I need you to ask them why exactly they chose to draw me and Craig together of all people.”

By the end of his explanation, Tweek tried to catch his breath. He hoped that Wendy understood him because he was not going to say all of that again.

“I can do that,” she confirmed. “Do you want to come with me when I ask?”

Tweek had not considered that option, but there were a few things that would get in the way of that. Cartman had told him that he would receive his next test at lunch, and he didn’t know what time or how long it would take to complete it. This would prevent him getting information as soon as possible. There was also the possibility of the Asian girls’ reasoning being a secret to him and Craig, and they might not want to tell Wendy anything if he was there to hear it. It was like he sending Wendy out to be a spy.

“No, that’s okay. You can just tell me what you find out later.”

“Oh, just a heads up,” Wendy added. “I have a busy schedule this week, so I’ll need to find time to talk to them. If I don’t get back to you by the end of the day, that’s why.”

“No, no, take your time!” Tweek assured, though he hoped that she wouldn’t take his word and prolong it for too long. “I’m asking a lot from you anyway, so don’t feel like I’m rushing you.”

“Don’t worry, Tweek. You can count on me!”

Tweek wondered how much Wendy knew about his situation. She seemed like the kind of girl who just knew everything about everybody. Then again, she was still part of the group that believed he and Craig were still dating, so he didn’t know what to think. It didn’t matter anyway. She was on board, and she had a much higher chance of gathering more information than him.

 

* * *

 

Stan and Tweek couldn’t even make it to the doors of the cafeteria without being approached by a seething Kyle, a cheery Butters, and a neutral Kenny. Like a reflex, Stan put a hand on Kyle’s shoulder and repeatedly told him to breathe. After regaining his composure, he finally spoke.

“Tweek, I’m going to give you your next test.”

“Huh?” Tweek asked, surprised that Kyle would be the one to give him instructions when Cartman was the one who told him to come to the usual lunch table. He looked around for Cartman, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Yeah, he’s not here because that fucker’s in lunch detention,” Kyle huffed.

“Dude, isn’t that a good thing?” Stan asked. He was successful at stopping Kyle from popping a vein from all of that rage, but it didn’t solve the reason why Kyle was so angry in the first place.

“No, it’s not. Right before class ended, that asshole stole my wallet and drew dicks on the whiteboard to get detention. Afterwards, our teacher walked him over there, so now I can’t get to him! What if he takes my debit card? Do you know how much I saved up mowing lawns all summer? He’s going to take all of it!”

“Just freeze your card, dude,” said Stan.

Kyle stared at him, dumbstruck. How he managed to forget about that, he will never know. He whipped out his phone and typed away.

“Okay, but I still want it back. Tweek, how good are your acting skills?”

“Huh?! Uh… I’ve been told they’re good, I guess...”

“Good. Here’s the plan: Stan and Kenny, you’re going to get into a fight in the courtyard. You don’t have to beat the shit out of each other, but try and make it believable. Tweek, you lead Mr. Mackey out of the classroom by telling him to stop the fight, and I’ll convince him to let me watch the class while he’s gone. Butters, stand by the door and watch for Tweek to come close. When you see him, tell Stan and Kenny so they can fight. Got it?”

Stan and Kenny looked to each other with excitement about their part of the plan. Butters, though his part was small, was still looking forward to it. Tweek was still trying to process the whole thing. He had so many questions. If Kyle and Cartman hate each other that much, then why do they hang out? What happens if he’s unsuccessful at dragging Mr. Mackey away? What if Cartman catches on to their plan quickly and calls them out on it? Will the others be able to follow their parts properly? Tweek could only answer with a weak and drawn out “okay”.

Stan, Kenny, and Butters headed for the courtyard while Tweek followed Kyle to the room where Cartman was hiding. They peeked through the small window and saw him with his phone in his hands and Kyle’s card on his desk, looking frustrated. He looked back and forth from the card and his phone, most likely trying to buy something with the card and getting rejected due to the card being frozen.

“Ready?” Kyle asked Tweek, who was definitely not ready. He had been nibbling on the joint of his index finger the entire walk over that it became covered in teeth marks and saliva. He nodded anyway, took a deep breath, then burst into the room while Kyle hid out of sight from Cartman.

“Mr. Mackey, you’ve gotta come with me! You have to stop them!”

“A fight?!” Cartman questioned excitedly, standing up from his desk.

“Sit down, Eric!” Mackey commanded, pointing his finger at Cartman in a not-so-threatening manner. “I’m sorry Tweek, but I can’t leave these guys unattended. Why don’t you get the principal...”

“He can watch them!” Tweek interrupted, pointing at the empty hallway. Mackey stood from his chair and peeked outside to see Kyle smiling back at him through his inconspicuous hiding place. “Please, they’re my friends, so you have to help!”

“O-okay then, Kyle. You can keep an eye on them for me,” said Mackey. “Make sure they all stay where they are.”

“You can count on me,” Kyle affirmed, walking into the classroom with a malicious smile playing on his lips. His gaze was locked on Cartman, who appeared to be putting up a tough front, but he still shifted his eyes around nervously.

With Kyle taking care of the class, Tweek walked in a fast pace towards the courtyard. Meanwhile, Stan and Kenny held their fists up at each other, but neither of them made a move. Both looked confused, as they didn’t know how to go about randomly beating up their best friend.

“Hey, fellas? Maybe one of you should throw a punch or something?” Butters suggested, keeping an eye on the window in case Tweek was coming close.

“We’re trying to get in the mood,” Stan explained. “Kenny, insult me or something.”

“Uh… Your sister is a bitch?”

Stan put his fists down and stared at Kenny. “You think I would take offense to that?”

“Shit, you’re right. Why don’t you insult me instead?”

“Your sister is a whore!” Stan blurted a little too quickly. He knew any insult directed toward Kenny’s sister would not be taken lightly, but Kenny’s sudden reaction caught him off guard.

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” Kenny shouted, lunging at Stan and tackling him onto the ground.

The two rolled around as Stan squirmed under Kenny’s grip in an attempt to escape. Kenny McCormick does NOT tolerate ANYONE saying something bad about Karen, and he clearly seemed to have forgotten the reason why Stan had said it. Right as Kenny could punch him, Stan shoved him off and stood back on his feet, holding his fists up to protect himself. Always hyped during a fight, Butters forgot about his part of the test to cheer on Kenny, telling him to kick Stan’s ass.

Tweek pushed open the doors to the courtyard to see an actual fight between Kenny and Stan, or rather, Stan running around and trying to protect himself from an angry Kenny. It was clear that this was no longer a pretend fight, and Tweek wondered what on Earth did Stan do to piss off Kenny. Mackey ran over to stop them, but Kenny kept trying to fight his way past Stan’s defenses. Stan’s arms were growing weak, so when his guard fell, Kenny’s fist met his face.

“Stop it, Kenny!” Tweek shouted, running behind Kenny and locking his arms to get him to stop attacking Stan.

“Kenny, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said that!” Stan apologized, pressing his hand to his eye to stop the throbbing.

“That’s what you get for calling his sister a whore!” Butters called out.

“Again, Kenny?” Mackey sighed. “You can’t keep doing this.”

Kenny blinked, returning to his normal state. He looked at the arms holding his fists back, then at Stan’s bruised arms and eye. “Oh shit” is all he managed to say about the situation.

“Stan, go to the nurse’s office, then come to mine. Kenny, come with me to my office,” Mackey instructed. He had dealt with enough fights involving these two to not be fazed by them anymore.

Agreeing that this was a reasonable compromise, the two walked their separate ways, leaving Butters and Tweek alone together.

“Wanna go see how Kyle and Eric are doing?” Butters asked, pointing at the door behind him with his thumb.

Tweek nodded, and the two walked back to the classroom while Butters explained what had happened when Tweek was gone. Tweek was already aware of Kenny’s overprotective tendencies when it came to Karen, but the constant fights it got him in was news to him. He wondered what kind of person Karen was to deserve being used as a way to trigger a rageful Kenny.

The two boys peeked through the window of the detention classroom. From the teacher’s spinning desk chair, a smug Kyle played with his phone, looking relaxed and accomplished. In the back of the room, a knocked-out Cartman lied on the floor with the pity-filled eyes of his classmates directed at him. Some of them, anyway, since the rest were laughing at him. Butters was disappointed that he missed the fight, but Tweek had enough drama for one day to not feel anything for the fallen Cartman.

 

* * *

 

That night, Tweek received a message from Wendy. He didn’t know whether to get his hopes up or not, since she already told him that there would be a chance that she wouldn’t be able to talk to them today, but he crossed his fingers anyway.

 **Wendy** : I haven’t been able to find time to talk to them yet, but I’m meeting up with a few of them tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t want to come?  
**Tweek** : No, it’s fine. Thanks for your help, though!  
**Wendy** : What’s this about, anyway? Will finding out why they chose to draw you guys together help your relationship with Craig?  
**Tweek** : I guess. I just want to know their reasoning, really.  
**Wendy** : I’ll keep you posted, then. For now, I’ve noticed that you’ve been avoiding him after the argument. I think you two should talk things out.

Tweek closed his and Wendy’s chat. He didn’t feel like explaining that part of his plan. Earlier, he received several texts from the group chat involving Cartman and the others, so he opened that instead. The majority involved Kyle and Cartman arguing again, but the most recent was directed at Tweek.

 **Cartman** : tweek that last test that kyle gave you didn’t count. im giving you a new one.  
**Kyle** : Tweek, if you’re reading this right now, you totally passed that last test.  
**Cartman** : shut up kyle!!!  
**Cartman** : anyway you heard the news about some robbers hitting all the shops in town lately right? well we’re going to stop him so get off your ass and meet me at my place.  
**Tweek** : Right now???  
**Kenny** : it’ll be fun! you said you’ve always wanted to play superheroes, right?  
**Cartman** : don’t call it superheroes ken. were not kids anymore. were gonna be undercover cops.  
**Stan** : I think I’ll pass guys. I’m still a little worn out from earlier.  
**Kenny** : i’m still sorry about that by the way.  
**Kyle** : Shouldn’t have called his sister a whore, dude.  
**Cartman** : stop being a pussy stan and come on. if youre really sorry then youll come.  
**Stan** : This doesn’t even involve you???  
**Cartman** : okay tweek be at my place in 5 minutes or ill have kenny kick your ass too.  
**Tweek** : Okay, I’m coming!  
**Kenny** : i’m not gonna kick your ass Tweek don’t worry.

Tweek’s new friends were… interesting, to say the least. He didn’t quite know what to think of the whole “initiation” thing, but he didn’t want to get scolded for being late for this test. The thought of playing undercover cops made him nervous, but he was excited at the same time.

 

* * *

 

 

In the basement of Cartman’s house, the boys sat around a large table that was big enough to seat around twelve people. _He must have a lot of friends over often_ , Tweek assumed. At the end of the table sat Cartman. To his direct left sat Stan and Kyle, and to his right sat Kenny. He took the chair by Kenny, but he wondered if this was actually Butters’ seat. He didn’t see him anywhere.

While Cartman discussed the plan, Tweek felt a buzz in his pocket and hoped that it was Wendy with more news. It turned out to be Craig, who asked what he was up to. He didn’t want to worry Craig by telling him what he was up to, but he didn’t like lying to him either.

 **Tweek** : I’m with my friends right now. We’re about to head out.  
**Craig** : i’m not worried about you or anything, but there’s been some crazy stuff going on at night. don’t get yourself hurt or whatever.  
**Tweek** : I’ll be fine. You worry too much.  
**Craig** : no I don’t. shut up.

Kenny caught a glimpse at Tweek’s screen and let out a tiny snicker. Tweek did the same, causing them to get scolded by Cartman. He put his phone away and ignored the next few texts.

“Okay, so we’re going to split up into teams. Kenny, you’re coming with me to check out the west side of town. Stan, Kyle, and Tweek, you’ll go east. Let’s go!”

“I wanna go with Tweek,” said Kenny, who grabbed onto Tweek’s arm.

“Fine. Stan, come with me,” Cartman ordered.

“No, I wanna go with Tweek,” Stan replied, grinning at Tweek. “If something goes wrong, he can help fight the burglars.”

“Well I don’t want to team up with Kyle!”

“Neither do I, fatass. I’m staying with Tweek.”

“Are you guys fucking serious right now?! Your group is too big now! You’ll just draw attention!”

“You’re right,” Kenny agreed, grabbing Tweek’s hand and dragging him up the stairs. “I call Tweek! Later, dudes!”

As Cartman called out after them, Kenny led Tweek outside of the basement and out of the house. They continued to run aimlessly with nothing but laughter filling the air. Stopping in front of the park, Kenny texted the others that they were going to cover the east side, which Cartman answered with a string of insults. Stan followed up with a “how could you”, hinting that Kyle and Cartman already started arguing again.

“Here you go, partner!” Kenny handed Tweek a black mouth mask with a Cheshire Cat smile stretching across it. He then pulled out another mask for himself, but his had a stitched up smile on it.

“What are these for?”

“They were going to hide our identities, but hiding your mouth doesn’t really do much. I just thought they looked cool, really,” Kenny explained in a muffled voice. “What do you think?”

Though he couldn’t see his mouth through the mask, Tweek could tell that Kenny was smiling at him. It suited Kenny somehow, as well as the muffled voice that came with it. Tweek looped the straps of the mask behind his ears and smiled back at Kenny. He wasn’t sure if he liked his mouth feeling warm every time he breathed, but he felt too cool with it on to care. He felt like he was on an undercover mission.

“What about me?” Tweek asked, his voice muffled as well.

“Dude! Nice!”

Kenny gave him a thumbs up. He wrapped an arm around Tweek’s shoulders and pulled him close for a selfie. From seeing his image in the front camera view of Kenny’s phone, Tweek blinked in surprise. It’s been awhile since he had taken a selfie with anyone, and with the masks, he and Kenny looked pretty cool.

“I’m going to send this to you, so send it to Craig, alright? Show him that we’re having fun and _not_ getting ourselves hurt.”

“He really does worry too much,” Tweek giggled. “Is he always like that?”

“Not at all. I don’t know why, but you seemed to have changed something in him.”

Tweek dropped the subject there. Every time Kenny reminded him that Craig cared about him, the harder he fell for Craig. Why did Craig care for him so much? Aside from right after leaving the principal’s office on the first day, and the time he apologized for getting angry with Craig for no reason, the two of them haven’t spoken face to face ever since. As much as he liked texting Craig, he wanted to see his face more. He wanted to see what kind of expressions Craig makes when telling a joke or talking about his interests. He wanted to hear the change in Craig’s voice when he teases him about not being the asshole he wants everyone to believe he was. He wanted to see Craig smile. What did Craig smile at, anyway? Guinea pigs? Space films? Red Racer? Would Craig ever smile at him? How did Craig feel about him?

“I don’t know exactly you got going on up there, but you should probably stop over thinking before you burn yourself out,” Kenny suggested, pulling Tweek by the wrist away from the shirt he was unconsciously gripping tightly onto.

“Let’s… Let’s go catch some criminals!” Tweek said to lighten the mood. He was here to have fun with his friends, not stress himself out over Craig.

 

* * *

 

Tweek and Kenny stayed in the shadows as they walked down the main street. They passed by a few police cars that were on the lookout for the burglars. Tweek questioned why there were very few cops around, and all Kenny could say was that the police in South Park were generally useless. Unless people were getting murdered left and right, the police never really batted an eye. Kenny’s strong sense of justice was what brought him to go along with Cartman’s plan, and Tweek respected that about him. He took up boxing as a way to protect himself and his friends, and he was always fond of the idea of helping others. He wanted people to see him as useful, not clumsy and paranoid.

“D-Mobile was the first target,” Kenny noted. “Then it was Sloppy Seconds, and most recently, it was Freeman’s Tacos. Think they might go for the bank this time?”

“It’s possible, but it’s so quiet. I don’t think anyone’s in this area right now--”

The vibration of his phone interrupted him. Kenny peeked over his shoulder to see that it was Stan who texted Tweek directly, rather than through the group chat.

 **Stan** : I may have wandered off a bit because the arguing is driving me crazy, but there’s a store here named after you. Tweek Bros. Do you know it?  
**Tweek** : Yeah, my parents are opening up a new shop.  
**Stan** : Well you better get down here. I’m hiding behind some trees and I can see some guys eyeing this place across the street. They might come after this place next.

The store wasn’t ready to be opened yet, so there wasn’t any money for them to steal, but Tweek couldn’t allow some criminals to destroy his parents’ hard work. If something were to happen to the store, they might move again, and Tweek was set on fixing things with Craig before that happened.

 

* * *

 

 

The group all met with Stan in the forest of trees he was hiding in. Tweek could hear them discussing the game plan, but it all sounded faint to him. He was too focused on stopping the criminals before they could break into the shop.

The three men in question were all dressed in black. As they approached the shop, they scanned the area for any witnesses, then proceeded to attempt to pick the lock of the door. Tweek recklessly jumped out at them and leaped in front of the building with his fists up. One man drew a knife, another had a crowbar, and the last had a gun, which he pointed at Tweek. All but Cartman rushed over to save Tweek, causing the men to raise their weapons. The only ones armed were Stan and Kyle, who both pulled out the metal baseball bats that were sticking out of their backpacks.

Suddenly, another metal baseball bat came into view. It was silently raised above the head of the man with the gun, then it came crashing down, knocking the man out.

Tweek didn’t care to see who had knocked out his most dangerous opponent. All he saw was an opportunity to strike at the others whose weapons were easier to avoid.

_While they're distracted, attack the one with the crowbar. Use a right cross._

His fist flew forward and hit his target's jaw, dizzying him.

_Step back and protect yourself and the others, then--_

His thought process was interrupted when his wrist was grabbed. He tried to pull away until he recognized the hand that grabbed him and dragged him away from the scene. Blue sleeve, blue sweater, blue chullo hat. Even though they had their back turned, Tweek knew that combination far too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's about damn time, Craigory.


	6. Tell Me Why

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been almost a week since I've updated, but never fear, for I have returned! I'm glad you all were looking forward to this next chapter, so I hope I didn't disappoint. I try to keep my chapter lengths consistent, if not longer than normal, so this one took more time to make. Anyway, enjoy!

Tweek allowed Craig to lead him by his wrist, as he was interested in knowing why Craig came to see him all of a sudden. He watched the houses of his classmates pass him by and wondered if Craig was actually taking him to his house. The initial feeling of confusion was replaced with anticipation. Ever since he started falling for Craig, he had imagined a few scenarios where they would visit each other’s houses. Being dragged away from burglars by the wrist while in the middle of protecting his family’s business was not one of those scenarios.

The two stopped in front of a brown two-story building that resembled just about every other house in the town. Craig led them past an empty living room, up the stairs, and into his room. After tossing the bat aside, he sat Tweek down on the bed and started checking him for any injuries.

“I know you’re a ‘champion of justice’ and all, but do you really have to keep throwing yourself into dangerous situations?” Craig questioned calmly, pushing back Tweek’s sleeve to search for scratches or bruises. “And take that mask off,” he joked, letting out a small chuckle. “Just because you hang out with Kenny, doesn’t mean you have to act like him too.”

Tweek pulled the mask down and let it hang under his chin. He sat quietly while Craig searched for wounds that weren’t there, his eyes wandering around the room. Movie posters, most of which were space themed, covered a large portion of the light blue walls. Various spacecraft models were showcased proudly on his desk and dressers, and one of them hung from the ceiling. There were numerous glow in the dark stars attached to the ceiling as well, and Tweek wondered what they looked like when the lights were turned off.

He heard a squeak from Craig’s bedside table. On it, there was a cage that housed the guinea pig he had heard so much about. Stripe stared at him curiously, to which Tweek answered with a smile and a small wave. Deeming him non-threatening and not worth his time, Stripe ignored him to play with a bright yellow chew toy.

Tweek noticed that Craig was no longer touching him, but he didn’t know how to break the silence. He had many questions, such as what Craig was doing wandering around the town with a bat in the first place, but he was too distracted by their closeness. They haven’t spoken to each other in person like this for a while, and suddenly doing so in such strange circumstances prevented him from doing anything to interrupt it. He didn’t expect to be so close to Craig like this, and the feeling of Craig’s hands on his skin made his heart flutter. He couldn’t understand why Craig was making him feel this way, but if he kept blushing in front of him, Craig would pick up on his attraction eventually.

The silence was making him nervous. He had to say something.

“How did you find me?” he asked, that being one of the many questions on his mind. “I never told you where I’d be.”

“I followed you,” he confessed. When he realized how creepy that sounded, he began to panic as he racked his brain for a less disturbing and vague explanation. “I mean… I just… I told you that some bad shit has been going on lately, but you went out anyway. I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t get killed or whatever.”

“I could’ve handled it,” Tweek argued, folding his arms. “You don’t have to baby me all the time--”

“He had a _gun,_ you idiot!” Craig noticed the momentary loss of his composure and took a deep breath before speaking again. “I don’t need you dying on me, okay?”

When Craig turned away from him to look at the floor, Tweek pulled up his knees to his chest and watched him from the corner of his eye. His stubbornness was only pushing Craig away, who clearly was only trying to help because he cared. What Tweek did was reckless, but he had good intentions.

“Why do you care so much about me?” Tweek finally asked.

“Because you’re my friend--”

“Just a friend?”

Tweek didn’t know why he suddenly asked that, but he found himself putting all of his focus on watching Craig’s reaction. He stared intently at him, forcing back the urge to take back what he had said. He had come to terms with his feelings for Craig, and he wanted to know if the reason why Craig was so fixated on him and his safety was because he felt the same way.

His heart beat loudly as he waited for a response, his eyes keeping track of the small movements Craig made. Hand scratching the back of his neck. Head moving, trying to find a place to settle on. Lips parting to speak, then pressing together tightly. Eyes briefly meeting Tweek’s before quickly shifting away.

“I…” Craig propped a leg on his bed to rest his chin on his knee, holding it in place with his arm. “I’ve been feeling so weird… Ever since I saw the artwork for the first time, I’ve been acting differently. Then I met you, and I just…”

He turned to Tweek and impulsively placed a hand on his cheek, careful not to handle the gauze roughly. His thumb ghosted over the patch, watching Tweek’s reaction to see if he was okay with that. Tweek kept his gaze on Craig, his nerves causing to shake slightly under his touch.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve spoken to you like this…” Tweek mentioned, averting his gaze after a while, yet keeping Craig’s hand on him.

“Yeah…” was all Craig could say at the moment.

The two knew what kind of position they were in and what it would lead to. Physical, almost intimate touching. Rosy cheeks and half lidded eyes. Heads moving closer together. Breaths mingling and bodies shivering. Lips only centimeters away.

But to Tweek, something was wrong. As much as he wanted this, something didn’t feel right. There was something about Craig’s behavior and the things he said that seemed off to him. He shut his eyes tightly and pushed Craig away, leaving him startled and confused.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” Tweek began, but he didn’t know how to continue. “Something’s just…”

“No, I get it. I shouldn’t have tried to do that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I don’t... think you actually wanted to do that.”

Surprised, Craig found himself at a loss for words. As vague as that answer was, it still made sense to him somehow. Being thrust into a crazy situation like this and suddenly feeling a rush of emotions that he had never thought that he would have could only happen if he was the one who wasn’t in control. Something was going on behind the scenes, but he had no idea what. That’s what he thought, anyway. He could’ve just been smitten after getting to know Tweek solely through text, but he didn’t know that for sure. Tweek’s response only made him more confused about the whole ordeal.

In the midst of the silence, a chime was heard, followed by someone loudly whispering “fuck” in the hallway.

“God, of _course_ she would,” Craig muttered, reluctantly standing to open the door.

As soon as he did, Tricia slipped past him and ran towards Tweek with a fake, bubbly smile that would never have been seen outside of a selfie.

“Wow! It’s so nice to see the guy that my fuckboy of a brother is so obsessed with!” she unapologetically announced, earning a glare from Craig, who had shut the door behind them.

“Obsessed?” Tweek asked, blinking curiously.

“No, not obsessed. Don’t listen to her,” Craig advised, flipping off Tricia. He didn’t want to put in the effort to push her out of the room, so he hoped that she wouldn’t do anything to scare off Tweek.

“Hi, I’m Tricia,” she greeted as she bounced onto the bed beside Tweek. “What happened to your face? Did you get into a fight?” She eyed the slightly dented bat lying on the carpet and raised an eyebrow. “What the fuck were you guys doing?”

Craig and Tweek glanced at the bat, then at each other. They were too engrossed in being in each other’s presence that they overlooked the fact that because they ran off, they wouldn’t be able to see if that guy Craig hit was either knocked out or dead. Upon realizing this possibility, Tweek’s face instantly went pale. Craig was concerned as well, but he mouthed the words “it’s okay” and sat beside him.

Tricia’s eyes widened. She leaned over to Tweek and asked, “did you guys just kill someone” in a hushed tone.

Tweek put his hands to the sides of his head, but before he could scream, Craig pushed his head into his chest into an awkwardly positioned hug. This managed to surprise Tweek into forgetting what he was about to do, but it definitely didn’t keep Tricia from staring at him with her mouth agape.

“Jesus Christ, guys, get a room,” she teased.

“Why don’t you leave then?”

“Craig!” Tweek interrupted, pushing himself away from Craig. “What are we gonna do?!”

“In my defense, he threatened me by threatening you, so this is really an act of self defense.”

Tweek could only stare at him, baffled by that response. He turned to Tricia with a “can you believe this guy?” look, but she only shrugged.

“You should’ve worn a disguise or something!” Tweek scolded, still panicking. “If Kenny and the others get caught, they’ll sell you out! I’ve only known you for like, four days, and you always wear that exact same outfit! They'll know it’s you!”

“Well if I go to jail, will you bail me out?”

“I can’t bail you out, idiot! I don’t have enough money to do that!”

“That’s too bad. Guess you’ll have to visit me and tell me what the outside world is like.”

“Y-you… Why aren’t you more worried? I don’t want you to go to jail!”

“Then fight for me,” Craig said, smiling at Tweek as he took his hand. “If the police come knocking on my door, you’ll be my witness. All you have to do is tell them that I was protecting you, and I’ll be fine. I trust you.”

Craig’s soft voice managed to calm Tweek. Their eyes locked together once again, staring at each other dreamily, completely disregarding the fact that Tricia was watching. That is, until she coughed to remind them that she was still there.

“This is confusing,” she said. “You guys are clearly in love, but you…” She pointed at Tweek. “...said that Craig didn’t actually want to kiss you earlier. What made you say that?”

Tweek turned his head to face Craig, then to Tricia, then to his hands, which were fiddling with his shirt. The two times that Craig had initiated an intimate moment between them in the past half hour, he found himself questioning the spontaneity. Not only did it not make sense to Tweek that Craig could fall for him, but there was also that nagging feeling that he had that told him that there was something he wasn’t aware of. When Craig mentioned that the artwork made him act different from normal, Tweek wondered what kind of effect the drawings had on them. Was it the fact that seeing himself in romantic situations so often caused Craig to actually want to be in those situations, or was there a big secret that the Asian girls were hiding?

“I can’t explain it, but there’s definitely something wrong with us,” Tweek concluded. “I wanted to look for clues, but I didn’t want people to continue spreading rumors about us, so I decided that we shouldn’t be seen together. I have someone who’s going to talk to the girls who drew us together in the first place, so maybe then, we can find out why we’re acting so strangely.”

“That sounds ridiculous,” said Tricia, who rolled her eyes. She hopped off of the bed and headed for the door. Before she left, she turned to them. “You two need to quit lying to yourselves.”

“It makes sense,” Craig argued. “There has to be something wrong with me. I keep telling you that I’m not--”

Three knocks on the door startled everyone in the room. Being the one closest to the door, Tricia turned the knob and revealed her father. Though his current emotion couldn’t be determined from his expression alone, Craig felt a heavy tension in the room. He stood immediately, as his previous position by Tweek would, without a doubt, raise suspicion. His father’s eyes fell on Tweek, who inhaled sharply from the intimidation.

“It’s getting late,” he said. “Your friend should get going.”

Craig and Tricia looked to each other, then to Tweek, who was scrambling to his feet to leave.

“Yes, sir!” he replied, doing his best to not make eye contact on his way out.

The three stood in silence, waiting for Tweek to leave the house. Not knowing what to do while waiting, each of them just stared at a random spot in Craig’s room until the slam of the front door was heard. Tricia began to leave as well until her father spoke up.

“Are you dating that boy?” he asked, eyes on his son.

“No,” both Tricia and Craig answered, who glanced at each other briefly when they realized they had spoken at the same time.

Without another word, their father left for his room. The siblings waited until he had left completely before sighing in relief.

“Sorry,” Tricia apologized softly. “I shouldn’t have spoken so loudly.”

“It’s fine, just…”

Craig put a hand to his face and used the other to gesture towards the door. Tricia took the hint and left, closing the door behind her. Finally alone, Craig collapsed onto his bed. He reached for his phone from his back pocket and checked the messages. He could tell that each of them were from Clyde, but he was too exhausted to read them at the moment.

 

* * *

 

Tweek rushed home, but he stopped for a moment to decide whether to check on the shop. It was far enough from his house that he couldn’t see it from his front porch, but the walk only took a few minutes. Listening closely, he could hear sirens faintly. He wanted to check to see if the burglars were caught, but he decided to repay Craig for saving him by not getting into anymore trouble for the night.

When arriving in his room, he received a text from Kenny. There were also some from the group chat started by Cartman, but he didn’t want to open those just yet.

In Kenny’s text, there were two pictures: the selfie they took together, and one of Kenny posing with the group with police cars in the background. Thankfully, they weren’t the ones being arrested, and the message that followed read “saved your business”. Lying back on the door, he slid down to the carpet with a loud sigh of relief.

 **Kenny** : where did you and Craig end up running off to?  
**Tweek** : His place, but before you say anything, NOTHING HAPPENED.  
**Kenny** : OH SHIT BOI GET IT  
**Tweek** : IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!!!  
**Tweek** : We just talked, okay? He was worried about me, so he followed us to make sure I was okay. Then some stuff happened, and I realized that the artwork has affected us somehow. Then his dad kicked me out, so I’m at home now.  
**Kenny** : describe “stuff”

Tweek let out a groan. He knew Kenny would react like this. Feeling uncomfortable on the floor, he walked over to make himself comfortable on his bed. He curled up while lying on his side with the phone close to his face. Maybe he’d give one tiny detail, then leave it at that.

 **Tweek** : We almost kissed.  
**Kenny** : DUDE  
**Tweek** : Then I pushed him away.  
**Kenny** : DUDE WTF  
**Kenny** : I THOUGHT YOU LIKED HIM WHAT WERE YOU THINKING  
**Kenny** : THIS WAS YOUR CHANCE DUDE  
**Tweek** : He’s not really in love with me, and neither am I. Or at least I don’t think I am.  
**Kenny** : no fucking way dude you’re super into him  
**Tweek** : No dude hear me out.  
**Tweek** : He said that he started acting differently the moment the artwork came out. Isn’t that strange to you?  
**Kenny** : i guess so.  
**Kenny** : so what will you do now?  
**Tweek** : Wendy told me that she’ll talk to the Asian girls tomorrow.  
**Kenny** : but tomorrow’s saturday?

“What?!” Tweek said aloud, completely unaware of this fact. As someone who had been spending his weekends alone ever since the first incident in Denver, he had no idea what he was going to do tomorrow. His current friends, minus Kenny, were most likely angry with him for ditching during the middle of a fight, so he didn’t think they would want to hang out with him. Visiting Craig secretly at his house wasn’t an option either, since Craig’s father didn’t seem too fond of him, and he wasn’t ready to hang out in public with him just yet.

 **Tweek** : Maybe she’ll meet with them somewhere.  
**Kenny** : right duh lol  
**Kenny** : what are you gonna do tomorrow? gonna go to Craig’s place again?  
**Tweek** : I don’t think his dad likes me very much, so no.  
**Kenny** : i have to work unfortunately, so we can’t hang out. sorry dude.  
**Kenny** : unless you don’t mind hanging out around 9pm or something.  
**Tweek** : No, it’s fine. I’ll think of something.  
**Kenny** : alright my dude

Tweek closed Kenny’s chat and opened up the one for the group.

 **Cartman** : tweek i stg if you ditched to fuck craig im gonna kick your ass  
**Kyle** : Tweek’s strong, fatass. You can’t kick his ass.  
**Stan** : Let him try. I wanna see Tweek fight again.

Tweek closed that chat too. He wasn’t going to deal with that tonight.

 

* * *

 

 

Craig awoke to the sound of his door swinging open and shutting closed without warning. He had no idea how to react, as each person in his family would earn a different reaction if they barged into his room, but because of the events of the previous night, he sat up and braced himself for a possible lecture.

At the doorway stood Clyde, who was out of breath from running up the stairs. Craig assumed that this was because he didn’t answer any of his texts the night before, so he grabbed his phone from his bedside table and read the most recent message.

“Craig, I’m coming over since you won’t answer me,” he read aloud.

“Dude, I need answers!” Clyde exclaimed, closing the door behind him and hopping onto Craig’s desk chair. He rolled over right in front of Craig’s bed, making it difficult for Craig to get out. “I saw you bring Tweek here last night when I was taking out the trash. What happened?!” He leaned forward on the chair until his face was inside Craig’s personal bubble.

“We fucked,” Craig lied nonchalantly, knowing that his parents weren’t around to hear him since they were at work. He pushed Clyde’s face back so he didn’t have to feel the boy breathing on him.

“ARE YOU SE—”

“No. We didn’t do anything because I’m not into him like that.”

Clyde sulked, lowering his head to press his chin on the chair’s back. “You’re so in denial that it’s almost ridiculous.”

“You don’t get it. He even said so himself. He actually told me that _I_ wasn’t actually into _him,_ and _I_ was only acting the way I was because the artwork is having an effect on us somehow.”

Clyde spun the chair to face Craig’s bedside table and thought for a moment. During that moment of silence, Craig texted Tweek.

 **Craig** : sorry about my dad. didn’t think he would scare you off like that.

“Wow, so…” Clyde spoke up. “The artwork does make you fall in love with the person you’re drawn with…”

“Yeah, dude,” Craig confirmed. “I don’t fall in love with people I’ve only known for a few days, especially if they’re dudes.”

“That’s wild, dude! Now I’m really worried if they start drawing me next! Would Bebe break up with me if she saw drawings of me with another guy? What if the guy they draw me with isn’t even attractive?! I’m not gay, but if I was, I’d have standards…”

As Clyde babbled about all the possible people he could’ve been drawn with, as well as the people that were acceptable to be drawn with him, Craig received a reply from Tweek.

 **Tweek** : That’s alright. It really was getting late.  
**Tweek** : Also the shop is fine, thanks to Kenny and the others, so I’m pretty relieved.

Craig wondered whether or not he should ask Tweek to hang out with him today, but he didn’t know where they could go in private. Would Tweek mind having people over at his place? He didn’t know how to feel about meeting someone else’s parents at the moment, especially when said parents are meeting the kid that’s been drawn with their son a few days ago. What was Tweek’s house like? Were there any pictures of him when he was younger? Did he have a room that was suitable for a guinea pig to run around in? Were his parents home?

Realizing that his thoughts were getting out of hand and that his cheeks were heating up, Craig shook his head. He glanced over at Clyde to see if he noticed, but he was still rambling.

“...Token’s okay, since he’s rich. Davíd’s family runs a Mexican restaurant, so I know I’ll be happy with him. Kevin’s cool when he’s not wearing that Star Trek outfit. I don’t think I’d be good with anyone from Stan’s group, to be honest. Who am I missing? Tweek? Would I look good with Tweek? Be honest.”

“Get out of my room.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tweek had already been invited to play video games with Stan and Kyle, but he didn’t want to be berated by Cartman, so he told them that he had things to take care of. That wasn’t a lie because when his parents saw their business on the news, they dragged him over to the shop to check for any damages. He knew that the shop was safe, but he didn’t want to explain why he knew that. If they found out that he played a part in protecting the shop, even just a small part, they might try to make him keep watch at night.

His parents sat and discussed who their new suppliers should be at one of the tables while Tweek was left with the chores, which his father said were only to “make himself useful”. He sprayed the windows with a bottle of glass cleaner and lazily moved a rag in a circular motion in the same place. He watched as people and cars passed him by, wishing that he hadn’t turned down the invite for video games. Some of the people that walked by showed interest in the shop, but they left once they saw the hanging closed sign. Tweek hoped to see someone he knew, but he had no luck. For most teenagers, Saturday mornings were for sleeping in or hanging out with friends, and he was doing neither.

Every now and then, he checked his phone in case he missed a message from Wendy. It was only ten in the morning, so it was unlikely that she had met up with the Asian girls at this point. He did receive a text from Craig, which he answered eagerly, since Craig hadn’t answered his previous text in over an hour.

 **Craig** : what are you gonna do today  
**Tweek** : I’m cleaning up the shop right now, and I’m still waiting on someone to update me on the Asian girls situation.  
**Craig** : who did you get to talk to them anyway?  
**Tweek** : Wendy. Kenny said she knew them, so I thought it would be a good idea.  
**Craig** : yeah, that should work. keep me updated about that.  
**Tweek** : I planned on it.

“Tweek, the floor is dusty,” his father pointed out. “Can you take care of that? There’s a dust mop in the back room.”

Knowing that he couldn’t sweep and text, Tweek had to put off chatting with Craig for the time being. He grabbed the mop and began pushing it around the store. When he had finished, his father gave him more and more chores to do.

After two hours of mopping, wiping, and rearranging furniture, Tweek was finally done for the day, as the store couldn’t get any cleaner. As soon as he collapsed onto a chair, his phone buzzed. Upon checking who it was, his eyes lit up.

 **Wendy** : I need you to come with me. Looks like one of the Asian girls, Hana, wants to speak to you and Craig.  
**Tweek** : Really? She wants to talk to us? Why?  
**Wendy** : She says she has something to confess to you guys. Do you think it’ll be important?  
**Tweek** : I hope so. I’ll tell Craig.  
**Wendy** : Okay, then we’ll be at the park. There’s a playground right next to it. Do you need directions?  
**Tweek** : That’s okay. I know where that is.

Tweek pulled up Craig’s chat as quickly as possible.

 **Tweek** : Meet me in the park. Wendy says that one of the Asian girls wants to talk to us.  
**Craig** : shit, really? give me 5 mins then.

Unsure of whether to wait for Craig or head over by himself, he waved his parents goodbye and rushed out of the store. He walked at a quick pace, clutching his phone close to his chest as the cool wind hit his face. On a nearby bench, he spotted Wendy and another girl speaking to each other in a language he didn’t understand, but Craig wasn’t with them. He walked slowly with hopes that Craig would arrive so that he wouldn’t have to make unnecessary conversation with the two of them while waiting.

“Tweek, over here!” Wendy called out when she saw him, assuming that he didn’t see her.

Though hesitant, he made his way over to the girls and nervously nodded at the girl Wendy sat beside. She had short, black fluffy hair. Her outfit consisted of a pastel purple dress with a white collar and round, pink glasses. Her appearance made her seem innocent, but when Tweek’s eyes fell on the black sketchbook on her lap, he had to stop himself from glaring.

“Hi…” Tweek greeted. “I’m Tweek. You... must be Hana.”

“It’s nice to meet you!” she replied, smiling kindly at him, seemingly unaware or unconcerned about the damage she and her friends had caused.

The crunching sound of footsteps in the snow snapped Tweek’s head toward the source. Craig walked at a leisurely pace toward the small group, hands in his pockets and eyes vacant. He had the urge to greet Tweek with a smile until he saw who was with him.

“Oh good, both of you are here now!” Hana announced, pressing her hands together. “This is so exciting! Can you two pose for me, please? The girls will be so jealous if they found out what I saw today!”

“You won’t be seeing anything,” Craig answered. “Please stay on topic. What did you want to tell us?”

“Yeah!” Tweek chimed in. “Why were you and your friends drawing us together?”

“Yes, I planned to explain that to you two. It’s a long story, though,” Hana told them.

 

* * *

 

 

The first time she saw Tweek and Jason together, Hana just had to draw them. In her eyes, they looked like a cute couple that would be her new subjects. Instead of using them as just models, she drew them exactly as they appeared and posted her work online to a small group of local yaoi fans. After receiving many nice comments and positive reviews on her work, she decided to post more.

She followed them around for inspiration, but she quickly learned that the two weren’t together. That didn’t stop her. In a show called Middle Park, two of her favorite characters became a couple due to the creators of the show asking for fanart of them, and Hana believed that the same tactic could be applied to reality. After spreading her idea throughout her small community, they all drew Tweek and Jason with hopes of getting them together.

When the news broke out of Jason angrily rejecting Tweek in front of the entire school, Hana was genuinely surprised that her plan didn’t work. Because of the incident, she didn’t see the two together anymore, leaving her disappointed. However, she didn’t come to the conclusion that her plan had failed.

She soon transferred to South Park High along with many other Asian girls and formed a small clique with them for their shared interest in art. On the day she arrived, she bumped into Craig. From the way she stared at him, an outside viewer would’ve seen this as her being lovestruck, but in reality, she had fallen for only his looks and wanted him to be her next test subject.

Like before, she followed Craig around to get a better idea of his personality. She noted varying personalities depending on the person he was speaking to and the situation he was in. His default image was calm, cool, and collected. When with friends, he occasionally smiled, and his jokes were laced heavily with sarcasm.

One day, Hana witnessed something that made her decide that Craig was the perfect subject. Like a scene out of a girly manga, Craig put an umbrella over a stray dog and fed it the chicken nuggets from his fast food meal. The type who flipped off the world but had a soft spot for animals was boyfriend material in her book.

At home, she came across one of her drawings of Tweek and Jason and noticed Jason’s resemblance to Craig. She scrapped the work and drew Craig and Tweek together instead. Happy with the finished product, she presented the work to her group the next day. For fun, they all jumped on the bandwagon and drew their own scenarios involving the “couple”.

Hana believed that Tweek’s family driving past her in a moving van on her way home was a sign that her artwork was what caused him to move to South Park. To her, this was like destiny, and she couldn’t be more excited.

 

* * *

 

 

Hana’s story left Craig stunned from the sheer ridiculousness, but it made Tweek remember an important detail. Though he was in the process of suppressing his feelings for Jason due to Jason’s sexuality, when he saw the artwork of the two of them together for the first time, he initially felt shock, yet he couldn’t help but fall in love with the idea of acting out the scene in the drawing. He adored the way they gazed into each other’s eyes and, though mostly scared about how Jason would react when seeing this, he hoped that this was a sign for them to finally be together.

“I… I think that might have worked,” Tweek said, keeping quiet about the details regarding to the extent of how well it worked.

“But how does that explain that guy hating you? By that logic, wouldn’t he have been in love with you too?” He turned to Hana. “Right?”

Hana didn’t answer. Her attention was on the brunette boy in a dark gray coat that was running towards them. The boy lightly tapped Tweek on the shoulder with a gloved hand, and while Tweek would normally go into a defensive stance when surprised, seeing the boy’s face caused him to freeze in place.

“Oh thank god, it really is you!” the boy said in relief.

“Jason?” Tweek responded softly.

Craig clenched his fists, feeling jealousy bubble inside of him. Meanwhile, Wendy and Hana looked to each other in excitement over the upcoming drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what you're thinking. "Damn bitch, another cliffhanger?" Yeah, I'm a slut for cliffhangers.
> 
> Also I doubt anyone noticed this, but the whole thing about Jason looking similar to Craig is because in the baseball episode, they gave Craig brown hair instead of black. I based him off of a continuity error lol.


	7. Underneath It All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wouldn't believe the writer's block I had. But 300+ kudos and 3000+ hits???? You don't know how much this means to me! I love you guys so much, and I hope I can continue to write this story for you all to enjoy!

In front of Tweek stood his ex-best friend. The same ex-best friend who publicly humiliated him for something he didn’t do. But now he’s back, and for some reason, there were no feelings of hostility from either of them. Tweek could sense this from the way Jason smiled at him and genuinely looked as if he were happy to see him, which he didn’t understand.

Jason was like Craig in the sense that he had a tendency to keep his problems bottled up inside, but aside from that, he was pretty open about his intentions. He was an honest, kind, and friendly, but whatever he had locked up inside of him was unleashed in a way that hurt Tweek, and Tweek didn’t know how to feel about it. He was upset that he wasn’t given a chance to explain himself, but he held no resentment towards Jason. Now Jason had come to South Park, and Tweek hoped this would be the moment where everything became clear.

“Why are you in South Park?” Tweek asked.

“I’ve been hearing about robberies going on here online. Your parent’s new shop was on the news, so I came here to find you. They didn’t bother to change the name, huh? It’s still named after you,” he said with a chuckle, as if he were trying to put the past behind him.

“Okay, sure, but… Why did you come to see me?”

“He’s probably here to apologize for being a piece of shit to you,” Craig guessed, stepping in between them. “Not like it matters, since you can’t take back what you’ve done. Go back to the hole you crawled out of, shitstain.” He showed off his signature middle finger.

Tweek wanted to push Craig aside for being rude and overprotective, but he didn’t want to make eye contact with Jason, so he stayed put. He was never a coward during a fight, but this was more complicated matter.

“I’ll leave after I apologize and explain myself,” Jason replied, meeting Craig’s eye. He was unwavered by Craig’s attempt at intimidation, but he was calm enough to not start an unnecessary fight. He broke from Craig’s stare and stepped to the side to speak to Tweek, who was hiding behind Craig.

“Excuse you,” Craig said, blocking Jason’s path. “Get the fuck away from him.”

“I want to talk to you alone,” he told Tweek, completely ignoring Craig. “Can you come with me? Please?”

Tweek began to walk towards Jason, but Craig blocked him off again. “Whatever you want to say to say to him, you can say it in front of me,” Craig said, glaring at Jason.

Jason took a step back and held his hands up in surrender. “Fine,” he agreed. “But at least let me talk to him without you blocking the way.”

Tweek pushed Craig aside by the arm lightly to pass. “I can handle it,” he assured, smiling at Craig for his consideration. This wasn’t the time for him to be stubborn about being protected. He faced Jason uncomfortably, making eye contact while still picking at a button on his olive cardigan.

“I’m so sorry,” Jason apologized, his sincerity apparent. “I should’ve never accused you. I shouldn’t have berated and humiliated you in front of everyone when it wasn’t your fault. You’re my best friend, yet I treated you so horribly.”

He took a step towards Tweek, and when Craig tried to intervene, Tweek stopped him with the shake of his head.

“I’m here right now because I’ve been thinking about you ever since that day. I know that sounds pretty gay, but I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I keep telling myself that I’m straight, but I just can’t get you out of my head. I miss hanging out with you. I wanted to apologize for a while, but my parents would’ve gotten suspicious if they saw me going to your house. Then I saw the moving vans in front of your house and thought it was over, but I found you anyway. I’m just… I’m glad that I could see you again.”

Both Craig and Tweek could tell that Jason was heavily influenced by Hana’s “spell”, but while Craig believed that to be the only reason why he’s here, Tweek prayed that part of his reasoning was to rebuild their friendship. He should be angry with Jason, but six years of acceptance and understanding isn’t something that could easily be forgotten.

“So what, you’re in love with him all of a sudden?” Craig accused.

“Maybe I am,” Jason replied, not taking Craig’s tone too kindly. He wasn’t oblivious to the hostility and Craig’s apparent feelings toward Tweek, even if they were currently fabricated by the artist observing attentively on the bench. “I take it that you guys are dating?”

“Maybe we are,” Craig lied, though not fully aware of the impact his words held. “Do you plan on getting in between our relationship?”

Tweek was overwhelmed by the wave of emotions he currently felt. On one hand, he had no idea how to react to his old crush confessing his most likely to be fake feelings for him. If this had happened much earlier, he would’ve accepted it, but he can no longer return those feelings. On the other hand, he was more embarrassed than anything to hear his current crush publicly hinting that the two of them were a couple. Too flustered to stop Craig from spouting any more lies, he could only stand there and watch the two argue.

“I still want to talk to you alone,” Jason said to Tweek. He glanced at Craig, then turned back to Tweek. “You still have the same phone number, right?”

“Yeah,” Tweek confirmed.

“You think I’m going to let you talk to him where I can’t see you? I still don’t trust you,” Craig interrupted, instinctively stepping in front Tweek once again. “If you hurt him again, I’ll kill you.”

Again, Jason ignored Craig. “I’ll text you about where we’ll meet,” he instructed to Tweek. “Hope you’ll be there.”

With a wave and a smile, he buried his hands in his coat pockets and walked away from the group. For about a minute after he left, the group was silent, still taking in what had just happened.

“I got Craig calling Tweek his boyfriend on camera!” Wendy suddenly squealed, waving her phone in the air excitedly.

“I just said that so he’d leave! Besides…” Craig pointed to Hana. “ _You_ made me like this. I would never admit to something like that.”

“Ah…” Tweek mumbled disappointedly, looking down at his shoes.

“Hey now!” Craig turned to Tweek and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Don’t be like that! You’re under the spell too! You’re not actually in love with me!”

Once again, their eyes met, and the spell took over them. The heat rushed to their cheeks as they stared at their own reflections in each other’s eyes. Again, they could feel a force pushing them towards each other as they blocked out the world around them.

“I don’t know how I did it, but I must have some kind of power!” Hana exclaimed, cupping her cheeks with glee.

They were instantly brought back to reality from the girls’ squealing. Craig released Tweek from his grip and turned away from all three of them, muttering, “fuck, I have to stop doing that,” under his breath.

Tweek ran his fingers through his hair and gripped it tightly, pulling at the strands. “I can’t tell apart my emotions anymore!” he screamed before running off.

Once Tweek’s screams could no longer be heard, Craig stepped towards Hana. “This is getting out of hand, and now Tweek is completely freaked out,” he told her. “How do we get back to normal?”

“As adorable as it is to watch, he’s right, Hana,” Wendy agreed, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not good enough if their feelings for each other aren’t genuine.

“I suppose so,” Hana admitted. “But unfortunately, I don’t know how to fix it. Maybe you’ll turn back to normal eventually?”

Craig groaned. He was glad to know the root of the problem, but not knowing how to fix it was troublesome. That, and while he strongly believed that his feelings for Tweek weren’t real, he couldn’t stop himself from wanting keeping an eye on him. He knew that Tweek wanted to meet up with Jason, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen between them.

 

* * *

 

 

In the span of an hour, Tweek had gone home, ate a sandwich, then returned to the same exact bench in the park. He didn’t know why he didn’t expect this to happen, since Jason didn’t know where anything was in this town. It turns out that he had wandered around nearby just to kill time as he waited for Craig and the girls to leave.

“Still get lost everywhere you go, it seems,” Tweek noted, recalling several incidents of himself losing Jason everywhere they went. The two sat on the bench together with a foot of space in between them.

“Okay, but I’ve never been to this town, and I’ve been walking this whole time. You can’t expect me to know where things are.”

“That’s what happens when you come to a new town on a whim.”

Tweek paused for a moment. He was supposed to still be upset at what Jason had done, but here he was reminiscing about the good times that they have spent together. He knows there was a specific reason why Jason was always so defensive about his sexuality, but he couldn’t remember what it was after the incident.

“I should be mad at you,” Tweek brought up. He looked to Jason with furrowed brows. “You have your reasons, right? Is that why you asked to speak to me alone? To tell me why you lashed out at me?”

Jason leaned forward and held clasped hands over his mouth. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“It never really bothered me that much when people asked if we were together,” he admitted. “I knew it made you nervous, so I always told them off so they’d stop. But then…”

Tweek scooted closer to Jason curiously, who was now resting his forehead on his hands.

“I don’t remember if I told you what happened. Do you remember those times before the incident where I was more… depressed? I became more distant towards you and the others.”

“I remember you being distant, but…” Tweek thought back to that moment, but he couldn’t remember what Jason had said to him at the time. “I don’t think I know why you were. Sorry, I’m forgetting something important, aren’t I?” He felt guilty for not knowing, which was shown by the way he bit his lip and hung his head low. Whether he repressed the memory due to Jason’s cruelty, he had no idea.

“It’s because of what happened to my brother. He was beaten and disowned by parents when they found out about his boyfriend.”

At that moment, Tweek remembered the whole scene. One day, Jason broke down in front of him when he confessed the horrors of the night before. He described the scene so vividly that Tweek could have come to the conclusion that he himself was actually there to witness the event. Jason spoke of punches, slaps, and kicks, none of which were used in the name of justice or self defense. His older brother, who thought he would be okay to come out since he was already about to move out, faced violence against him that was absolutely uncalled for. Bruised and bloody, his brother spoke to Jason about living with him in the event that he didn’t feel safe with such abusive parents.

Tweek remembered asking if Jason wanted to leave, but Jason feared that somehow, his parents would fight to keep him under their roof. Tweek’s parents may have been cruel to him in many ways, but when the artwork came out, they were much more supportive of his supposed sexuality than Jason’s parents would’ve been. They even let him hide at home after he had been publicly shunned by his classmates, though really, they just didn’t feel like convincing him to go to school. In this sense, Tweek believed that he was actually much happier with his parents, and he felt like garbage for forgetting this important story. Jason shouldn’t have placed the blame on Tweek, but his fear of facing the same fate as his brother overtook him, causing him to act out of line, and Tweek couldn’t just overlook that.

“Tweek, I truly am sorry. I was terrified of the idea of my parents abandoning me as well, but I didn’t have the right to take it out on you.”

Jason turned his upper body towards Tweek, his hands pressed down on the bench and his head bowed down. “You didn’t deserve to be hurt like that. You don’t deserve a shitty friend like me. I hope you don’t think I’m lying or that have some kind of ulterior motive when I say that I’m sorry, because I really mean it.”

Though he was shaking and forcing back tears, Jason tried his best to keep calm. Even so, Tweek could hear the crack in his voice. This wasn’t the spell talking. It was his friend—his best friend, and he sought him out in an unfamiliar town to apologize.

“I should’ve apologized right after it happened, but I was too scared of my parents thinking that I was secretly dating you. I cared about their opinion of me more than our own friendship.” Jason sat upright and faced Tweek, looking straight into his eyes. “You don’t have to forgive me, and I sure as hell don’t deserve it, but please believe me when I say that I am truly sorry.”

“Dude, you can stop apologizing. It’s okay, really. I understand now, and I forgive you.”

Tweek smiled warmly at Jason, who sighed in relief. He lied back on the bench and turned his attention to the sky, his hands clasped together while resting on his thighs.

“You know… About what I said earlier when that guy asked if I was in love with you,” he started, piquing Tweek’s interest. “I’m happy when you’re around, but when I first saw the artwork, I started thinking of you differently. I thought, ‘that would be nice’, when I saw us together, though I don’t know why. I’ve never thought of you like that before.”

“I think I know what’s going on,” Tweek said.

“I’m still scared, though,” Jason admitted, leaning forward again and gripping his hands together tightly. “If I really am in love with you, then… my parents…”

“No, don’t worry,” Tweek assured. “You’re not actually in love with me.”

“Huh?” Jason asked, quickly sitting upright to meet Tweek’s gaze. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, um… There were two girls with us when you first saw me today. The short-haired one. The one with the sketchbook…” Tweek fiddled with his thumbs as he tried to figure out how to explain to Jason that he was under some kind of “spell”. Hana and Craig had managed to convince him that his romantic feelings weren’t real, but he didn’t know how to explain that to Jason.

“She was the one who drew us in the first place, huh?” Jason guessed.

“That’s not all,” Tweek explained. “It turns out that she was the one who made us fall in love with each other in the first place. I know it sounds crazy, but whoever she draws together falls in love. It happened with us, and now it’s happening with me and Craig.”

Jason hummed understandingly, as the whole situation was crazy enough for something like this to make sense. Tweek’s mention of himself and Craig in the same situation made the explanation more believable as well, though he didn’t want to see the artwork of Tweek and Craig for further confirmation. Even though he had just been told that his romantic feelings weren’t real, they affected him enough to feel jealousy towards Craig.

“Anyway, you don’t actually have feelings for me, so you’ll be okay,” Tweek continued. “That’s good, since I don’t feel that way for you either.”

“I’m not in love with you then?” Jason asked again to confirm.

“No, and I’m not in love with you.”

Jason stared straight ahead and blinked in confusion. He took a breath, closed his eyes, then stared at Tweek.

“I want to make sure of something, so don’t freak out,” Jason instructed.

“Hm?”

“I’m going to kiss you to see if I really do have feelings for you.”

“HUH?!”

Tweek stared at him wide-eyed, looked around, then focused back on Jason. His idea wasn’t farfetched, but kissing his best friend while “being in love” with someone else seemed like a strange thing to do, to say the least. It was mainly the idea of kissing his best friend that made him uncomfortable, but if it would help Jason sort out his feelings, then one kiss shouldn’t hurt.

“Clearly, you’re not cool with this, so--”

“It’s fine!” Tweek exclaimed. “Really, it’s okay. This could help you, so I’m fine with that.”

“Right. It’s just to confirm my feelings,” Jason agreed, though he was starting to feel embarrassed himself.

 

* * *

 

 

Craig didn’t know if it was possible for him to be obsessed enough with someone that he would hide in some bushes just to watch their conversation with someone else, but here he was, hiding behind a bush to spy on Tweek and Jason. _It’s just to protect Tweek_ , he told himself, but anyone who saw him would undoubtedly think he was some kind of stalker.

Because he was several feet away from the two, Craig could hardly understand a word either of them said, so he could only rely on their facial expressions and gestures. The two had only spoken for about fifteen minutes, and all Craig could determine from the scene was that there was a lot of apologizing going on.

That was before he witnessed something that caused him to blow his cover.

Tweek was visibly flustered by something that Jason had said, and Craig tried his best to figure out why. He attempted lip-reading, but it was no use. There was no need for that anyway, because the second Jason dove in to press his lips on Tweek’s, Craig was already jumping out from behind the bushes and running towards the two.

“Craig, what the fuck?!” Tweek screamed as he tackled Craig to the ground to protect Jason. He had Craig pinned while Craig struggled to break free. “He wasn’t going to hurt me!”

“He _kissed_ you, and that’s way worse!”

“We were just trying to find out whether he was really in love with me or not!”

“Well, is he?!”

“Actually,” Jason interrupted. “It helped a lot. I… didn’t feel anything from that.”

Tweek and Craig both turned to Jason in surprise, or rather, Tweek was surprised while Craig was more than relieved.

“That’s good to hear. Now you can leave, right? Offense intended,” said a hopeful, yet still bitter Craig.

“Jesus, Craig. This spell has turned you into a jealous asshole. Offense intended,” Tweek noted, adding the last part in a mocking tone. He released Craig, but he immediately stepped in front of Jason to shield him.

“You guys clearly have some things to work out, so I’ll get going,” Jason explained. “Glad we had this talk, though, and thanks for your help. I’ll text you later,” he told Tweek before walking off with a wave.

Tweek sat back on the bench and shot Craig an annoyed look. Craig sat down beside him, but Tweek stubbornly scooted away, his arms folded across his chest. They sat silently for a few seconds before Craig decided to apologize.

“I’m sorry,” Craig sighed, though the sincerity was there. “I shouldn’t have let my emotions take over, but just so you know, the real me wouldn’t have done that.”

Tweek sighed as well, resting his head on his hand. “I know,” he said. “I’ve heard from just about everyone that you’re not normally like this.”

Craig inched closer to Tweek, waited for a response that didn’t come, then inched closer again. “I guess… We’ll have to figure out a way to break the spell to see what I’m really like. I will warn you that I’ll still be an ass, but I won’t spare you since I won’t be in love with you anymore.”

Tweek tried to recall what happened with Jason that made him fall out of love with him. They had discussed what made Jason act the way he did back home, what had caused him to fall in love with Tweek, and then they kissed to see if Jason really had feelings for Tweek. _I’ll have to kiss Craig, then?_ Tweek wondered, turning away from Craig to hide the blush that had spread across his face.

“Do we have to kiss too?!” Craig guessed a little too excitedly, holding onto the free hand that Tweek had pressed onto the bench.

Tweek eyed the hand that had grabbed his, then turned away again. “Uh… It worked with Jason, so…”

“Then we should do it! You know, to go back to our normal selves, obviously. I’m not… excited or anything,” Craig tried to reason, though his true intentions gave him away.

Tweek didn’t respond. He eventually gave in to kiss Jason for the sole purpose of helping his friend sort out his feelings, so wouldn’t the same apply to Craig? Because of the spell, the answer was no. Despite only knowing Craig for a few days, the amount of times that he had imagined himself kissing him would be too embarrassing to say aloud. With the hand he still had on his forehead, he started to play with strands of his hair to distract himself.

Craig took the lack of a response as Tweek being too nervous to say anything, so he tried to think of something else to say that might persuade him. “Don’t you want to gain control of your emotions as much as I do?” he asked. “Unless you don’t want to kiss me, then we can--”

Before Craig could finish, Tweek pulled him close by the braided strands of his famous blue hat and collided his lips with Craig’s in a clumsy kiss. Craig ran his hands through messy blond locks and aligned himself to fit Tweek’s lips properly, melting into the kiss that wasn’t supposed to make them feel so enamored with each other. Craig’s arms moved down to wrap around Tweek’s waist while Tweek wrapped his around Craig’s neck, pulling him closer so that their chests were pressed against one another’s.

The two repeated the process of pulling apart slightly and connecting their lips together for almost a full minute. Tweek pulled away one last time with a sigh of content, then realized that he didn’t feel any different after the kiss. His heart beating quickly was not a good sign. He looked over at Craig, who was leaning forward in an attempt to try and kiss him again.

“Craig, no!” he ordered, pushing Craig’s face back with the palm of his hand. “It didn’t work!”

A part of Craig wanted to suggest trying again solely for the purpose of going farther than before, but he pushed those thoughts aside and reminded himself that his feelings weren’t real. “What should we do, then?” he asked.

Tweek tried again to remember what had worked with Jason. Before Jason had kissed him, he had asked if he could try doing so to “make sure of something”, which probably meant that the spell had been broken by that point. Before that, he told Jason that he was under Hana’s spell, and he was never in love with Tweek to begin with. But Craig already knew about the spell, so that wouldn’t work.

“Uh… Don’t hurt yourself over there,” Craig advised, taking note of the way Tweek squeezed his eyes shut when he thought hard about the situation.

“I’m not in love with you,” Tweek mouthed out silently, repeating the words he had said right before Jason suggested that they kiss. That was it. _“I would never be in love with someone like you”_ was the last thing Jason had said to him when Tweek fell out of love back in Denver, and _“I’m not in love with you”_ was the last thing Tweek had said to break the spell on Jason.

“We have to reject each other,” Tweek instructed. “It wasn’t the kiss that worked. It was me telling Jason that I couldn’t return his feelings. The same thing worked when I was in love with him, and I instantly snapped out of it.”

“So I just have to reject you to your face for you to stop liking me?”

“I guess so. It can’t hurt to try.”

“Well that should be easy. Tweek, I’m sorry, but I don’t love you.”

A wave of relief washed over Tweek from those words. He looked Craig in the eyes and noticed that he didn’t have the urge to pull him close and kiss him. He did, however, feel his heart beat slightly faster than normal, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as before. He felt calmer around Craig, sure, but he realized at that moment that he still had lingering feelings that had developed from spending time with and getting to know Craig.

“Did it work?” Craig asked. “Do you feel any different?”

“Yeah, kind of,” Tweek answered, which wasn’t _really_ a lie. He wasn’t hopelessly in love with Craig like he was before, but he still felt something for him. “Now it’s my turn, I guess…”

“I’m ready,” Craig said with a determined smile, hoping that this would be the end to their ridiculous week.

“Craig…” Tweek started, suddenly unsure about whether to go through with the plan. He still had feelings for Craig, so did he really want Craig to stop having feelings for him? He decided to reject him quickly before having any second thoughts. “I don’t love you,” he said.

Like Tweek, Craig was relieved to hear those words, but instead of having lingering feelings of love, he felt confused. He wasn’t obsessed with Tweek anymore, but he didn’t know how to feel about him either.

“Craig? Did it work?” Tweek asked, interrupting Craig’s thoughts.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Craig replied. “I’m glad that’s over.”

_He doesn’t feel anything for me after all,_ Tweek thought, though he tried to keep his face from showing his disappointment. He watched as Craig stood up from the bench and stretched.

“We don’t have to hide around anymore!” Tweek blurted out, earning a raised eyebrow from Craig. “I mean… The situation’s been dealt with, so we don’t have to keep hiding. We can… you know… hang out in public without people thinking that we’re dating. If you want, of course!”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” said Craig, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looked straight ahead. “I mean, I’m kinda exhausted after everything that happened today, so I’m going to head home. If you want to hang out tomorrow, I’d be down for that.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Tweek smiled.

When Craig turned around briefly to face him, his heart skipped a beat at the sight of Tweek’s smile. “See ya,” he said, walking away in a quick pace.

 

* * *

 

 

Tricia was able to hear her brother’s heavy footsteps on the porch from the couch she sat on. She turned of the television, hopped out of her seat, and swung the front door open before Craig could even remove his keys from the top lock.

“What are you doing home?” she whispered loudly. “I texted you that Dad was looking for you! I think he’s mad!”

“Shit, what?!” Craig hissed, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. He had his phone on silent ever since he started spying on Tweek and Jason.

“Craig?” his father called out from the kitchen. “I need to talk to you.”

The siblings eyed each other nervously. Craig stepped inside of the house and walked to the kitchen without a word while Tricia closed the door behind him and sat back on the couch. She turned the television back on, but she was more focused on what was going on in the kitchen.

Craig and his father both stood by the kitchen sink, neither of them making eye contact. Communication was never easy in the Tucker family, the men being the worst offenders. Craig prepared himself for whatever his father had to say, because now he could safely admit that he had no feelings for Tweek. He was actually still confused about how he felt, but to him, that still passed as not being attracted to Tweek.

“I’m sorry,” his father said, breaking the silence.

Craig was not prepared for that response, but he kept his gaze on the sink. He stayed silent and continued to listen to his father speak, curious as to what he was apologizing for.

“I didn’t mean to scare off your friend last night. That was just me being uncomfortable about the idea of you being gay, but… I talked to some people, your mother included, and they helped me understand that my traditional way of thinking won’t make me a good father. I’m supposed to love you for who you are, and if you’re gay, then I will support you no matter what. I’m proud of you, son.” He patted Craig on the back, smiled, then walked back to his room.

Craig leaned over the sink, his elbows propping him up on the counter. “You support your gay son, huh?” he mumbled. He was relieved to hear that his father wasn’t angry with him, but now he’s left to question his feelings for Tweek. One of the main reasons he tried to suppress his feelings was due to his upbringing, but after his recent conversation, that was no longer an issue. How did he feel about Tweek?

When they had first met, he thought the blond was strange due to his appearance alone. He looked as if he tried to get ready while running to school, which could explain his improperly buttoned shirt and wild hair. Him being uncomfortable about standing in front of a room full of gossiping students wasn’t out of the ordinary, but he gave off the impression of someone who actually had anxiety, and having all eyes on him wasn’t helping.

The fight with the upperclassmen was what first caused Tweek to stand out to Craig. If he ever said that he had no interest in people who could fight or speak their mind, he could be knocked out for being a fucking liar. Craig always tried to befriend those who could do either of those things, which explained his current group of friends. Token is honest, doesn’t take anyone’s shit, and is overall a cool person to hang out with. Jimmy was an interesting guy, and he definitely isn’t afraid to fight back, even if he has to use his crutches as weapons. As for Clyde, well, Craig might’ve borrowed from his 64-pack of crayons in kindergarten and was sworn into friendship ever since. But Tweek? Tweek was a fucking badass. He had never seen anyone whip out such jaw-dropping, albeit slightly terrifying boxing moves out of nowhere and beat the shit out of guys bigger than he was. And Craig loved a good fight.

Their first argument was something he could do without. Being screamed at for something he didn’t do was not something he particularly enjoyed. This was the first time he had lost his cool in public, and it wasn’t a pleasant memory. Then again, he couldn’t begin to imagine the humiliation that Tweek felt when the same thing happened to him. He will never understand why Tweek decided to forgive Jason.

The apology went well, but he didn’t like the idea of avoiding Tweek while the rumors floated around. He especially didn’t like the fact that the first group to pick up Tweek happened to be Stan’s fucking group. On top of the resentment towards himself for not stopping Tweek from hanging with the wrong people sooner, he began to feel overprotective of him. Due to the group’s tendency to get into dangerous situations, this concern was warranted.

During their time apart, they texted each other frequently in an attempt to get to know each other better. He learned that Tweek’s favorite kinds of shows involved mysteries and conspiracy theories. He had an addiction to coffee that he claimed he was going to break someday, but he seemed to be doing a poor job at it. He has yet to find a place in town to practice boxing, so he spends time drafting and testing out new baking recipes. He also expressed interest in playing with Stripe one day, which Craig would be more than happy to make happen.

The night before is when things really became confusing for Craig. He remembered the adrenaline he felt when knocking out the man armed with a gun with his metal bat in order to save Tweek. His heart beat loudly when he recalled nearly kissing him in his room, then it became the only thing he could hear when he flashbacked to the moment where he actually kissed him. Hana’s supposed power might’ve been what prompted him to hold Tweek close and deepen their kiss, but his whole face shouldn’t be feeling so hot if he’s remembering the scene after the spell had broken.

Fuck.

He had a crush on Tweek.

Tricia peeked into the kitchen to check on Craig after she watched her father leave and watched Craig sort out his feelings internally. After a few minutes, Craig ran past her to head for his own room. She chased after him and held the door open when he tried to close it.

“Whoa, hey! What’s gotten into you?” she asked, closing and leaning on the door behind her.

“Nothing,” Craig answered, pulling on the braided strings of his hat to cover his reddening face. He flopped onto his bed and hid his face in his pillow.

“I overheard what happened with Dad, so you’re not upset about that. What’s going on? Did something happen with Tweek today? Is that why you didn’t answer your phone?”

“Go away, Tricia,” he ordered, his voice muffled by the pillow.

“Come on! I haven’t been supporting you for the past few days just for you to not fill me in on the important details. Are you guys together? Did you kiss?!”

“We’re not together.”

“But did you kiss?”

Craig was silent, which Tricia took as confirmation. She began slapping her hands onto his back repeatedly while squealing in excitement, causing Craig to sit up and attempt to swat her away, but he missed due to his hat still covering his eyes.

“Oh thank god,” she said dramatically. “My brother won’t die a virgin!”

“I swear to god, I am this close to picking you up and throwing you out of here.”

“Everything’s cool now, right? Why don’t you ask him out, then?”

“It’s not that simple. Now seriously, get out.”

Craig grabbed Tricia by the collar, who didn’t put up a fight, and dragged her out of his room. Asking Tweek out all of a sudden wouldn’t be that simple. He tried to remember if Tweek had shown any signs of attraction towards him before he left, but Tweek’s awkward delivery on his suggestion that they not hide around anymore could easily be explained as his need for the two of them to be friends.

There was no turning back. Craig pulled up Tweek’s chat, typed out his message, then hit send without a second thought.

**Craig** : let’s go on a date tomorrow if you’re free.

 

* * *

 

 

At home, Tweek was sitting on his bed with a cup of coffee in one hand and his phone in the other. After reconciling with Jason, he was happy to speak to him again, especially now that Jason knows his and Craig’s situation. As much as he liked Kenny, he needed to talk to someone who won’t immediately stick their head into the gutter and gush about his sex life, or lack thereof.

**Jason** : Yeah, I probably should’ve told you that I stopped having feelings for you right after you told me that you didn’t have feelings for me. Probably would’ve saved you from having to kiss that guy.  
**Tweek** : You say that like Craig’s a bad person.  
**Jason** : Yeah, that might’ve just been the artwork’s influence on him that made him act that way. If not, then I don’t think you should date that guy. He seems a little obsessive.  
**Tweek** : No, it was definitely the influence talking. I’ve heard from people that know him that he’s not normally like this.  
**Jason** : But would you date him though?  
**Tweek** : I do like him, so maybe. I don’t know.  
**Jason** : Are you going to ask him out then?  
**Tweek** : Probably not. He seemed a little too relieved to have fallen out of love with me, so he doesn’t like me like that.

  
As if it were an answer to his prayers, Tweek received Craig’s message, and he almost spilled his coffee on his bed from the way he jolted upon reading what Craig had sent.

**Tweek** : HE JUST FUCKING ASKED MEOUT ON A DATEWHAT DO ISAY  
**Jason** : First of all, calm down before you send something you don’t mean.  
**Jason** : Second, if you want to go out with him, then the answer should be obvious.  
**Tweek** : YES IM FREETO MORROW  
**Jason** : Wrong chat dude. And calm down.

Tweek placed his coffee on his bedside table to prevent spilling it from all of the excitement and took a few deep breaths before answering Craig. He held the phone in shaky hands, reading the text over and over again. _Let’s go on a date. Let’s go on a date,_ he repeated in his head, trying to imagine Craig’s voice saying those words to him in person.

**Tweek** : I’m free tomorrow. Where do you want to go?

He held the phone faced down to his chest as he lied back to stare at the ceiling. He had a date with Craig. This better not have been a prank, or he will personally make a visit to Craig’s house right now and beat the ever loving shit out of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, I get to write a date chapter next! I wonder how my baby boys' first date should go? Feel free to throw in some ideas in the comments!


	8. Not According to Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will either laugh or cringe at all of the references I threw in here. There is no in between.
> 
> Think of this as you guys' early Christmas gift, because I won't update again for a long time. Merry Christmas, and thank you all for all of your support!

If there’s one thing that Craig knew about girls, it’s that there was no such thing as secrets. Girls told each other everything, whether it was about them or not, and whether it was true or not. That’s how Clyde found out about what had happened when Jason first showed up. He had heard from Bebe, who was sent a video of the interaction from Wendy, who had actually sent the video to all of her girlfriends. Apparently it was sworn to secrecy that they not talk about it outside of the group, but Bebe sent it to Clyde, Red sent it to Tricia, and Tricia was already replaying it while sitting on Craig’s bed. She had barged in when she received the message and showed it to Craig, who was attempting to drown her out by playing with Stripe. Clyde texted him that he was coming over to talk about it whether Craig liked it or not.

Meanwhile, Hana had posted new artwork online and sent it to him (she got his number from Wendy, who got it from Tweek), and he didn’t know how to react to it. She had managed to capture the moment when they had kissed on the park bench so perfectly, Craig suspected that she was actually watching it happen and just drew the scene. Something tells him that when he takes Tweek out tomorrow, he’ll need to keep an eye out for her or any of her friends. Speaking of which, where was he going to take Tweek?

From 4th to 8th grade, he had dated ten girls, two per semester. He didn’t intend to have that kind of routine, but it happened anyway. Every semester, he would date a girl who he felt was attractive enough for a few days, then dump her because he lost interest in her. After a while, they caught on to his lack of interest, yet they decided amongst themselves to make a challenge to see who could make Craig fall in love with them. By the start of his freshman year, Craig decided that he wouldn’t bother dating anyone unless he was actually interested in them because it was too tiring to humor these girls.

Normally, the girls would decide where they would go, but it was always the same. Movie, amusement park, or somewhere to eat. Some actually tried to invite him over to their houses to get the chance to kiss him, and some actually succeeded, but every girl that had done that instantly made Craig realize that he wasn’t interested in them, which ended the relationship. Many girls were attracted to his uncaring attitude, but none were able to woo him.

In typical Clyde fashion, Clyde burst through the door and announced his arrival with his hands in the air.

“So were all just gonna sit on Craig?” Clyde asked, taking note of Tricia sitting on his bed. “I’m down for that. Dogpile!”

“If you do that, I will kill you,” Craig warned, though his tone was nowhere near intimidating. He shielded Stripe with his hands in the event that Clyde did try to jump on him.

“Hey, Clyde!” Tricia greeted, smiling up at him as he took a seat beside her on the edge of the bed. “Red sent me this video of Craig admitting that Tweek is his boyfriend. Wanna watch?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here! Bebe sent it to me too!” He pat Craig’s shoulder with a devious grin playing on his lips. “Damn, Craig! You’re such a Prince Charming, standing up for your love like that!”

Tricia and Clyde were getting on Craig’s nerves, but when were they not? Getting rid of them individually isn’t difficult, but since there were two of them, Craig could only kick out one while the other would continue to tease him. He rolled over on his bed to face the wall, hoping he could block them out while he decides on where to take Tweek.

“They’re annoying, huh, Stripe?” Craig says to his beloved guinea pig. Stripe squeaks in response. He puts him down onto the bed, but Stripe tries to burrow himself under Craig’s hand again.

Tricia stealthily grabs his unsupervised phone and goes through his messages. When she opens Tweek’s chat, her mouth drops silently to not alert her brother. She waves over Clyde and holds the phone at an angle so he could read it too. Clyde puts a hand over his mouth excitedly and placed his other hand on Craig’s arm.

“Our boy has asked out his crush for the first time! Trish, this is a very important moment for us! He’s growing up!” Clyde cooed.

“It sure is, Clyde!” said Tricia, who dramatically put a hand on her chest. “And here I thought the poor boy was going to be alone for the rest of his life!”

“Where are you guys going, dude?” Clyde asked, tapping Craig’s arm twice. “Oh hey, you wanna double date with me and Bebe? Might be less awkward with more people, you know?” He pulls out his phone and begins typing, but Craig sits up to stop him by covering the screen with his hand.

“No, don’t,” Craig grumbles, pressing the home button on Clyde’s phone. “That actually sounds more awkward.”

“So what will you guys do, then?” Tricia questions, still holding Craig’s phone in her hands with Tweek’s chat opened up. She notices that Craig still hasn’t assigned Tweek his caller ID, so she types in his name with a green heart emoji on each side. She then screenshots the chat with the change and sends it to Tweek.

 **Craig (Tricia):** fixed your caller ID.  
**Tweek:** Huh? Who is this? Is this not Craig?  
**Craig (Tricia):** wow, how could you tell?  
**Craig (Tricia):** actually i don’t care. it’s tricia. remember me?  
**Tweek:** Oh, yeah I remember. Why do you have his phone?  
**Craig (Tricia):** don’t worry about it. you guys are going to the amusement park in Denver. that cool?  
**Tweek:** Yeah, sure. I don’t mind.  
**Tweek:** By the way, what’s Craig doing? Since you have his phone and all.  
**Craig (Tricia):** talking to Clyde. being fussy. he doesn’t have a plan for what you guys will do tomorrow. i didn’t tell him that you’ll be going to the amusement park.  
**Tweek:** So it’ll be a surprise?  
**Tweek:** Or am I going to tell him?  
**Tweek:** Or will you tell him?  
**Craig (Tricia):** i’ll tell him in a second.

As Tricia texted Tweek, Craig and Clyde were pitching date ideas.

“I don’t see why we can’t just play video games at my place. No reason to go all out,” Craig said with a shrug. He focuses his attention on Stripe rather than Clyde, which Clyde was unbothered by.

“Craig, come on,” Clyde whined. “This might actually be the one! Don’t you want to make it special?”

“You literally say that about everyone I date. Why should I try hard for this one? I could just ask him to pick, and it’ll be just like all of my other dates.”

“Because it’s not like the other dates, Craig. _You_ asked _him_ out because _you_ actually like him. Don’t you want this to work out?” Clyde tried to reason. He turns to Tricia for backup, but she’s too absorbed in her conversation with Tweek.

“I don’t care,” Craig answered with a huff.

 _He has to like me back if he agreed to go out with me, but if he doesn’t, then it’s whatever._ Craig scrunches his eyebrows and lies back into his previous position with Stripe in his hands, staring intensely at the wall as if he was going to magically summon the laser eyes from the Peru incident and burn a hole through it. He was in denial, of course. He won’t kill himself over the thought of Tweek not returning his feelings, but he sure as hell won’t get over it that easily. There was something about Tweek that made his heart swell in a way that he had never felt before, and since the spell was already broken, he couldn’t use it as an excuse anymore. _He’s gotta be doing something to me. Maybe he’s the one who put me under a spell. No, he had to have **cursed** me._

“So you literally don’t care? What if you go on a terrible date, manage to piss him off, and he never speaks to you again?” Clyde argues.

As someone who prefers to live in the present, the slippery slope method won’t work on Craig, but the thought of Tweek never speaking to him again made his chest tighten. “Hand me my phone,” he commands, smacking Clyde on the arm with the back of his hand as he rolls onto his back. “I’m gonna tell him that we’re just going to hang out here and play video games.”

“Too late,” Tricia announced, tossing Craig’s phone over her shoulder. “I already told him that you guys are going to the amusement park in Denver, and he’s cool with it. So yeah, get ready for that or whatever.”

The phone misses Craig and the protected Stripe, landing only inches away from Craig’s stomach and bouncing on impact with the mattress. Craig reaches for it with his free hand and holds it in front of his face. His eye twitches at Tweek’s new caller ID. He leaves the name as is, though he deletes the hearts, then returns to the chat to read what Tweek had sent. He is surprised to see that Tweek was quick to notice that someone else was using his phone, but he was more surprised to see that Tweek didn’t oppose to going back to Denver.

_Didn’t Jason go back to Denver?_

Craig pushed the thought back as far as he could. He was not going to let jealousy consume him this time. Besides, what were the chances of the two running into each other? Denver is much bigger than South Park, so that possibility was low. He’s going to have a nice time with Tweek at the amusement park, and that’s that. Nothing will go wrong, they won’t run into Jason, and they will have a nice time.

Not that Craig really cared if the date went well. Obviously.

Clyde waves his hand over Craig’s face. “Stop spacing out, dude” he says. “We have to pick out an outfit for you to impress him with.”

 

* * *

 

 

They had decided to meet up at the bus stop at 10 AM, though Tweek managed to oversleep, so he was stumbling around his room at 9:30. He didn’t really feel the need to impress Craig with any specific outfit, but he didn’t want to give off the impression that he didn’t care that he was going on a date, so his compromise was to dress _somewhat_ better than normal. And by that, he was just going to put on a sweater without buttons to avoid messing them up. He pulls a coffee brown cable-knit sweater over his head and rushes over to the floor length mirror in his room.

 _Is this too formal for an amusement park?_ he wonders, but there isn’t any time to change. With a quick glance at the time on his phone, he moves on to brushing his teeth, smoothing down his hair with wet hands, grabbing his keys and wallet, then scurrying out the door. No breakfast, no greeting his parents, and no coffee.

Seconds later, he runs back into the house, chugs some coffee straight out of the carafe in the kitchen as if it were water, then runs back out. His parents didn’t even bat an eye.

 **Tweek:** I’ll be there in 2 minutes!!!  
**Craig:** k

The frosty air stings Tweek’s eyes from how fast he’s running. The bus stop isn’t too far from his house, but he didn’t want to make Craig wait. With a few minutes to spare, Tweek makes one final leap towards the bus stop, sliding the soles of worn out brown boots on the sidewalk to stop the momentum. Craig looks up from his phone and raises an eyebrow at Tweek’s dramatic entrance, to which Tweek could only respond with heavy panting.

“Did you oversleep?” Craig asks with a smirk. He had decided to go with his usual attire of a t-shirt under a blue sweater and his favorite chullo, much to Clyde’s disapproval.

“No,” Tweek lies when he catches his breath. He debates on how close he should sit next to Craig, then settles for about two inches away, hoping that Craig doesn’t mind. He wears a sheepish grin when he places his hands at his sides and onto the bench.

“By the way,” Craig speaks up, earning a head tilt from Tweek. “You cool with going back to Denver? Not gonna trigger anything bad memories for you or anything?”

Tweek’s mouth fell open slightly at Craig’s concern for him. _He’s very considerate of me,_ he realizes, then gives Craig a warm ear-to-ear smile.

“I’ll be fine, but thank you.”

With the fear of making some kind of embarrassing face in front of Tweek, Craig turns his gaze in the opposite direction, pretending to wait for the bus to arrive. He notices how content Tweek is by the way he’s grinning and humming the tune to a song he vaguely recognizes.

“What song is that?” he asks, still facing the other way. “Sounds familiar, but I can’t think of the title.”

“To be honest, I don’t even know the title of the song. It’s uh…” Tweek places a hand on the back of his neck with a bashful chuckle. “I saw it on a PSA on TV about not being on your phone while driving. I know it’s silly.”

Craig tries to recall the lyrics, then begins singing softly to himself, closing his eyes and leaning back on the bench as he does so. “People are dying. The fault is our own. You can do lots of damage when you’re on your phone.” He knows that singing is unlike him, but he hopes that it would make Tweek happy to know that his interests aren’t silly.

Thankfully, it does. Tweek’s eyes are directed at his knees, but his profile shows the sides of his lips curling upwards and teeth peeking out from underneath. The squinted eyes and pink cheeks add to the overall look of appreciation with a hint of shyness. In the same soft tone, Tweek sings along. “We all have to agree to change it somehow. So let’s make a pledge…”

“To end it right now,” Craig finishes out loud.

“Put it down—”

“No, no,” Craig interrupts, waving a hand in front of Tweek’s face. “That’s enough. We’re not going to break into song. We’re done singing.”

“Fair enough!” Tweek laughs. “I didn’t expect you to even start singing in the first place!”

“Yeah, neither did I,” Craig mumbles, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweater. He’s more than glad to see that no one was around to see this sappy side of him, especially not anyone he knew.

The roaring engine of the bus approaching alerted the boys to stand up. When they boarded and paid, Tweek chose his seat first, so now it was Craig’s turn to decide how close they should sit. The bus was fairly empty with a few people scattered around. The seats are arranged by long rows stretched along the sides of the bus. He spots a couple in the back sitting close together and sharing earbuds, then settles on taking the spot next to Tweek, save for a few inches in between. Glancing at the couple again, Craig pulls out his earbuds and hands one to Tweek.

“What are we going to listen to?” Tweek asked.

“I don’t know. I’m on Pandora.” Craig holds the screen of his phone towards Tweek. “You can pick a station.”

Tweek scrolls through the list of stations and chooses the Chill Out Radio station. The first song that plays starts off with a soft, electronic tune. The steady beat of the synthesized instrumentals allows Tweek to close his eyes and lean back in his seat. “It relaxes me,” he explains. As much as he wants to lean his head on Craig’s shoulder at the moment, he restrains himself, the reason being that they weren’t at that stage yet. Then again, he didn’t really know what stage they were at. This was the first date between two people that had gotten to know each other under very unusual circumstances, and while Tweek wanted to question why Craig asked him out in the first place, he didn’t in fear that Craig would come to his senses and leave.

Half an hour of calm, jazzy tunes later, Craig pulls the app back up to change the station. “It’s making me fall asleep,” he reasons. He selects 80s New Wave, and the first song to play is one Craig recognizes to have romantic undertones. He glances at Tweek from the corner of his eye, and Tweek gives him an amused look.

“80s music?” Tweek questions. He’s oblivious to the romantic implications of the song, though he can tell the time period solely from the artist’s singing voice.

“Gonna need kick-ass 80s music playing in the background when we save the world, obviously. And by ‘save the town’, I mean eat a bunch of junk food and throw it back up on some roller coasters.”

“How exactly will us throwing up our junk food on roller coasters benefit the world in any way?”

“Well it won’t if you’re gonna have _that_ attitude.”

Tweek shoves Craig playfully with his elbow and laughs loud enough for everyone on the bus to hear, but not enough for them to care. He reduces the sound by clenching his teeth and snickering, his cheeks beginning to hurt from how wide he was smiling. Finding Tweek’s laughter contagious, Craig starts off with a few snorts, which then transforms into near cackling. Despite the volume, the other riders pay no mind to the boys.

 

* * *

 

 

The amusement park is bustling with guests from couples to friends to families, everyone pulling everyone everywhere. Adrenaline-filled screams follow roller coaster trains while impatient groaning follows guests standing in long lines. Though he has a very reasonable fear of amusement parks due to possible ride failures and deaths, Tweek tries to only fill his head with fun memories of the times he had visited an amusement park. He had gone several times with friends, and nothing bad had ever happened, so he hopes today won’t be any different. If anything, he hopes it’ll be better, since this could be one of the most important days of his life. _That’s so fucking cheesy,_ he thinks to himself, though he can’t help but smile.

Tweek notices that Craig’s eyes have been locked on a stand called “Sweet Treats” ever since they entered the park. “If you want something to eat, just say so,” Tweek says. He takes Craig’s sleeve and leads him to the stand.

“I’m getting cotton candy. Do you want anything? I’ll pay,” Craig offers.

“Just some coffee--”

“No,” Craig interjects. “You’re supposed to be weaning off of that stuff, remember? You’re getting a bottle of water.”

Tweek opens his mouth to argue, but he fell silent. Craig was right, and he definitely didn’t need to know about his moment of weakness right before he left the house. “Fine,” he agreed reluctantly with a childish puff of his cheeks.

Craig places his order and places the icy bottle of water in Tweek’s open palm. Tweek curls his fingers around it in disgust. “You do nothing for me,” he hisses at the bottle, to which Craig shakes his head at.

“Just drink your water and pick a ride, you baby,” Craig says, adding a snort and a smile at the end to avoid hostility.

Tweek knew Craig was looking forward to the roller coasters, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the ferris wheel. It was his favorite ride because he found it calming, and when he texted Wendy the night before about his date, she told him that the ferris wheel was the most romantic ride in an amusement park.  
_Use this opportunity for that first kiss!_ were her exact words, which made Tweek feel giddy.

Craig followed Tweek’s gaze to the ferris wheel and let out a knowing “ahh”, though he didn’t make the connection between ferris wheels and romance. “We can ride that first, but then we have to ride a roller coaster next, alright?”

“Alright,” Tweek smiles. He paces quickly to get them a spot in line and tries his best to keep the cheesy scenarios at bay. The buzz of his phone is a great distraction. When he pulls it out of the front pocket of his jeans, Kenny’s name flashes on the screen, which catches Craig’s attention.

 **Kenny:** how’s it going??? you guys make out yet???  
**Kenny:** second base?????  
**Kenny:** if you say third base i’m gonna lose my shit

Tweek locks his phone and slips it back into his pocket. He would be blushing harder if he didn’t already expect this kind of message from Kenny. That’s what he gets for telling the most perverted out of his four friends about his date.

“Fucking McCormick…” Craig groans. “Why did you have to tell _him_ of all people?”

“Turns out he saw the video too and asked me about it. It kind of came up. Sorry…”

“It’s fine. We’re not going to worry about that. Look, we’re almost at the front of the—”

The loud clanking sound of screws of various sizes falling one by one onto a steel platform cuts Craig mid-sentence, and the screams of the riders direct his attention to the ferris wheel. The ground shakes when the wheel unhinges, rolls off the platform, then falls flat, blowing dirt in every direction.

Once the dust storm ceased, Tweek looked up in horror before letting out a panicked scream much louder than the guests who feared for their lives. He bolted straight towards the exit of the park, leaving Craig to chase after him.

On their way out, more problems arose. A food stand catches on fire, which lights the walls surrounding it, and it also manages to affect the neighboring booths as well. Numerous chairs of the swing ride fly off, piloting guests in different directions. On the launched freefall ride, guests are flung into the sky when they are propelled upwards at a rapid speed.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Craig shouts as he runs after Tweek. He’s more angry at the constant ride failures ruining his date rather than the danger he’s in.

Finally managing to catch up to Tweek outside of the park, he grabs the terrified blond’s hand tightly to hold him back. Firefighters and ambulances sped past them with their sirens blaring as Craig placed his hands on Tweek’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” he assured the trembling Tweek. “We’re out of the park now. We’ll be okay.”

Tweek’s eyes darted in every direction as he clung tightly to the fabric of his sweater. “I knew amusement parks were dangerous! I should’ve never agreed to go here!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Craig said calmly. “We’ll go to a movie instead, okay? You can’t get hurt at a movie.”

Still shaking, Tweek gave an anxious nod after a deep breath.

“Okay, so where’s the nearest theater?” Craig asked, looking at his surroundings. The two had run far enough into the city to be surrounded by buildings that he didn’t recognize, so Craig didn’t know where to go.

Still shaken up from the disasters he had witnessed, Tweek was at a loss for words, so he grabbed onto Craig’s hand to lead him to the theater. He was completely unaware of how this action caused Craig’s heart to race.

Craig didn’t question why Tweek was leading him by the hand instead of just telling him where to go. Tweek’s hand was warm and comforting, and Craig had the urge to intertwine their fingers to feel closer to him. He watched Tweek’s disheveled blond hair bounce with each step that they took, almost becoming mesmerized with it. _What’s wrong with me? Why am I so… attracted to him?_ He wondered, though he kept his grip on Tweek’s hand.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’ve been wanting to see the new Star Wars movie. Wanna watch it?” Craig asked. The two stood in line at the outdoor ticket booth behind several others, so they had enough time to decide what to watch. Tweek, unable to get his mind off of the amusement park, only nodded in response. He had let go of Craig’s hand when they got into the line, but his attention was on anything and everything that wasn’t Craig. He jumped when he felt a hand on his back, but he calmed down upon realizing that it was only Craig.

“There, there,” Craig said, patting his back. This method didn’t work as well as the time he held Tweek close to prevent him from screaming, but he felt uncomfortable with the idea of hugging Tweek in front of so many people. Tweek had managed to stop turning his head everywhere, but he was still shaking and gripping his sweater tightly.

Craig reserved their seats in the middle of the last row of the second section. They were close enough to see without people in front of them, but not too close where they would have to strain their necks from looking up for so long. After Craig bought them popcorn and drinks, they took their seats. Tweek took a few shaky breaths before he finally calmed down, sinking into the cushioned chair.

“Feeling better now?” Craig asked, patting Tweek on the shoulder.

“Y-yeah…” Tweek sighed. He straightened himself up in his seat and turned to Craig with a smile. “You don’t have to worry so much about me, but I guess… Thank you, C--”

“Holy fuck,” said a voice from the boys’ right. “Is that Tweek?”

Tweek narrowed his eyes, then turned to the boy. “Hey, uh… Pete.”

This response did not go unnoticed by Craig, who began to be suspicious of Pete. He stared down the tall brunette who stood beside a bored-looking girl holding popcorn. She was too spaced out to be interested in the interaction, but Craig kept his eye on her anyway.

“What the hell are you doing back here in Denver? Didn’t think you’d want to show your face around here after being exposed as a perverted _freak_ ,” Pete sneered. He folded his arms and puffed out his chest like he had executed the perfect insult, and Tweek lowered his head in shame. Even though he knew who was really at fault for the artwork, the story Hana had told him was crazy enough to easily be dismissed by someone like Pete. He never bullied Tweek in the past, but he was one of the people who spread the rumor of Tweek or Jason being the one who created the artwork, making him someone that Tweek hoped to never run into again.

“Excuse me, but can you leave?” Craig spat. His hands gripped the armrests, ready to prop him up if the conflict escalated. “We want to see a movie, not your fucking mouth run.”

“Is this your new little fuck buddy, Tweekers? Was Jason not good enough for you?”

“I told you to shut the fuck up.” Craig stood, but Tweek pushed him back into his seat.

“It’s not worth it, Craig,” said Tweek, staring straight ahead to ignore Pete. “Let’s just enjoy the movie.”

“Oh shit, he’s whipped Kel!!” Pete laughs as he elbows Kelly, who doesn’t react. She tilts her head at Tweek and stares him down, humming curiously.

“Poor thing. What if he’s being blackmailed by Tweekers? ‘If you don’t go on a date with me, I’ll draw us having sex and post it all over school’? God, that’s disgusting!”

Craig stood again, but Tweek had the same idea. He leaped out of his seat and swung his fist at the right side of Pete’s head.

“Don’t you _DARE_ accuse me of blackmailing him!” Tweek shouted, returning to his guard position of holding his fists close to his face.

_Left foot first, pivot torso and hips, then left hook to the liver._

Pete had fallen to the ground with one hand clutching his stomach and one arm blocking the upcoming barrage of punches. Craig and Kelly stood off to the side and watched the fight while the crowd either pulled out their phones to record or ran outside for security.

“Oh yeah, he was in the boxing club!” Kelly explained excitedly, then returned to her neutral expression.

“Is that your boyfriend?’ Craig asked.

“Nah,” Kelly answered instantly. “Just a childhood acquaintance that I can’t shake off. Pitiful, isn’t he?”

“You’re telling me,” Craig grinned at the fight, watching Tweek continue to beat the boy bloody.

“Is that _your_ boyfriend?” Kelly questioned as she tried to fit a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“God, I hope so,” Craig replied.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t surprising that Tweek was kicked out of the theater. He would’ve been arrested if Kelly didn’t sell out Pete for being an ass, and Craig was grateful to her for that.

“I’m sorry,” Tweek sighed, slumping his shoulders. He folded his arms and rubbed his thumb over his bicep. “I know you really wanted to see that movie, but I couldn’t let that guy get away with saying all that.”

“Are you kidding? You defended my honor. The least I could do was follow you out. Let’s take a walk or something, yeah? That should get us in the least amount of trouble.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Tweek agreed.

The two began their walk down the busy streets of Denver. Tweek directed them towards a river bank that he claimed was the place where he walked when he needed to clear his thoughts.

“It’s nice, don’t you think?” he said, looking down at the dirt path as he walked alongside Craig. He gazed at the river bank, though he made sure to keep his balance and stay on the grass.

“Yeah, it is,” Craig answered, glancing at the river for only a second before focusing straight ahead. “Do you miss this city?”

Tweek bit his lip and pinched the hem at the bottom of his sweater. He turned his attention to the river again. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, there were good memories too, and I was born here, so…”

“Hey, don’t answer that if it’s going to stress you out. Sorry. We can just drop it.”

 _Why are you so sweet?_ Tweek wonders, forcing back a smile. He can’t stop the red that tints his cheeks, so he resorts to just staring at the river as he walked.

The sound of leaves crunching under fast footsteps is heard by Craig, but not by Tweek, who is lost in his thoughts. Craig sees a football and a child no older than ten coming his way. He steps back to catch the football, but he accidentally bumps into the distracted Tweek, sending him tumbling down the river bank and into the water.

“Shit, shit!” Craig hissed, throwing the ball at the kid. He slid down the small slope to the river and found Tweek sitting neck deep in the water. He held out a hand for Tweek to grab and pulled him out of the river.

“GAH! What happened?!” Tweek panicked, unaware of the fact that Craig was the cause of his fall.

“I’m so fucking sorry. There was a football coming towards us, and I was trying to make sure it didn’t hit you, but I ended up…” Craig buried his face in his hands and let out the cry of frustration he had been holding in ever since the amusement park incident. “God, fuck, this date really fucking sucks! Nothing’s going right! You probably saw this coming a mile away, huh? Fuck, why did you even agree to come here with me?!”

Knowing Craig’s anger wasn’t directed towards him, Tweek tried to stay calm for his sake. “I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to spend time with you, that’s all…”

Surprised, Craig blinked at him, then looked to the ground. “Wh… What the hell...? Why would you want to spend time with someone like me? That’s… gay…”

“I want to spend time with you because I like you…” Tweek looked to the ground as well. “Asshole.”

“What the fuck… You _like_ me? What’s so great about me? Why would you like someone like me?”

“Why did you ask me out, then? What’s so great about _me?”_

“I asked you out because I… I... like you…” Craig pulls his hat by the flaps to cover over his eyes, though his full face blush is clearly visible. “You’re kind of fun to be around… And I think you’re… interesting? I guess? And you fight good… And… maybe some would say you’re… cute? I don’t know…”

“AGH! I’m going to stop you right there because you’re seriously embarrassing me with all of this flattery right now!” Tweek exclaims, holding a hand over Craig’s mouth. “And I guess I like you too, so what the hell do we do about it?”

Craig pushes his hat out of his eyes and removes Tweek’s hand from his mouth. He places a hand on the back of Tweek’s head and pushes it towards him to connect their lips. Just before Tweek could pull Craig closer, Craig breaks away and hides his blush by burying his face into Tweek’s shoulder.

“What the fuck… What is it about you that makes me act so weird…”

Tweek pats Craig on the back and looks around awkwardly, still dripping wet from the earlier fall. “Um… I know you’re having a moment here, but… I’m kind of, uh... freezing…”

Craig backs away from Tweek. “Oh shit, uh… We should, uh… We’re too far from home right now, so, uh…” He racks his brain for answers, but he’s drawing a blank. The buzz from Tweek’s phone captures his attention. He watches Tweek pull out his phone, protected from the water by his lifeproof case, and immediately scowls at the name on Tweek’s screen.

 **Jason:** Is it going well?

Tweek flashes a tight-lipped smile at Craig, who frowns in return. “I know you don’t like him,” he started.

“I hate him,” Craig interrupted.

“Understandable, but take a look at our situation.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Jason opened his front door, he was met with a still-soaked Tweek and a displeased Craig.

“You need to borrow my shower and dryer?” Jason asked. “I can lend you my clothes for the time being.”

“Maybe he can borrow my clothes, and I can wear yours,” Craig suggested sarcastically, though he wasn’t opposed to the idea of Tweek wearing his clothes.

Jason rolled his eyes at Craig, then turned to Tweek. “Do I really have to let this one into my house?”

“I’d really like it if you guys would get along,” Tweek huffed, walking into Jason’s house when he gestured to come inside. “I’m going to take a shower, so try not to kill each other.”

“I’ll leave some clothes by the door,” said Jason.

“Then I’ll take them, put them on, and leave my clothes for Tweek to wear,” said Craig.

“Oh my god,” Tweek groaned, growing more annoyed by the second. “Somebody just put something out for me to wear so I don’t have to walk around naked.”

Jason glares at Craig, who gives him a smug grin as he lets himself in.

“I don’t think you’re right for him,” Jason explains once Tweek is out of earshot.

“And I don’t trust you. At all,” says Craig, his grin not faltering. He sits on an empty couch and pulls out his phone to keep himself busy.

Jason leaves to gather clothes for Tweek, and Craig follows quietly shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, Ange. Back at it again with those cliffhangers. 
> 
> I created a Pandora account for this. And I’m a Spotify gal. I betrayed Spotify in the name of accuracy.
> 
> As for the amusement park scene, I played rollercoaster tycoon 2 and tried many ways to kill the guests. You can’t actually kill them on the ferris wheel, but whatever. 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed, and Merry Christmas!


	9. Honest Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School, work, and writer's block, oh my! Seriously, the writer's block I had for this chapter was ridiculous, even with the outline I prepared. It's almost been a month, but I'm back!

The days Craig spent pretending to be a thief when he was a child paid off. Light footsteps and a silenced phone made him undetectable to the unsuspecting Jason, who was currently rummaging through a drawer full of unfolded lounge wear. _Can’t even fold his own laundry,_ Craig scoffs internally with a disapproving head shake.

From afar, Craig’s eyes wandered around Jason’s bedroom. At the end of his bed lies a medium-sized plush dog bed, though the dog was nowhere in sight. Beside it were a few chew toys and long socks braided together as a makeshift rope toy. On the walls were a couple of popular alternative rock band posters, as well as a few action movie posters. A medium-sized wide screen television sat on top of a shelf filled with various movies and games on top and several different consoles on the bottom. He could spot many of his favorite titles, but he was too invested in the jealous rivalry over Tweek’s affection to actually hold a friendly conversation with Jason about them.

Once he heard the drawer shut closed, Craig slipped into the dark room next door that, lucky for him, had its door wide open. He took a quick glance to make sure it was actually empty, then continued to spy on Jason as he knocked on the door and placed the lazily rolled up old white t-shirt and navy sweatpants on the carpet.

“I left some clothes right outside the door!” Jason announced.

“Thanks!” Tweek called out from inside the bathroom.

When Jason’s heavy footsteps going down the stairs was all that echoed through the house, Craig took the clothes, slipped back into Jason’s room, then changed into them as quickly as possible. He folded his own clothes neatly and placed them outside of the bathroom door, then snuck back onto the couch without Jason noticing that he was upstairs to begin with.

Craig watched with silent amusement as Jason wandered around the bottom floor looking for him. He grinned when he heard the shower stop and the door open upstairs, feeling accomplished knowing that his plan was successful. Jason heard it too, as he stopped walking around and looked up at the ceiling. When he did, he instantly reacted to Craig snorting at him, then saw that he was currently wearing his clothes.

“Great,” Jason scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. “Now I have to burn those.”

“You make it sound like a chore,” Craig grins. He sits cross-legged with his arms stretched out along the top of the couch, making the effort to look as comfortable as possible. “Don’t worry, I can take care of it. I’ll make a campfire with them, and Tweek and I can watch the stars at night. Sounds cool, huh?”

Jason groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I need to get along with you for Tweek’s sake, but you’re making it really difficult.”

“You haven’t said one nice thing to me since I got here, so you’re not doing your part either,” Craig retorted

“What, so I just have to say something nice to get you to stop being such an ass?”

“I can make the effort.”

Jason slumps into the far end of the couch away from Craig. He sighs heavily, his arms still folded across his chest.

“Tweek seems to really like you, so I guess you must be doing _something_ right.”

With a smile directed at the television in front of him, Craig hums in approval. “I’ll take it.”

“Now say something nice to me, so I can dislike you less.”

Not that Craig planned to comply to begin with, but he found himself too distracted by Tweek walking down the stairs to say anything back. He adored the way his favorite blue sweater hung loosely on Tweek’s smaller stature, as well as the fact that his jeans were too long, so they pooled around his ankles. The thought of Tweek wearing his chullo nearly made his heart stop.

“Nice,” he whispers with a clenched fist in front of his chest.

“You’re ridiculous,” Jason whispers to him, shaking his head.

“Really, Craig?” Tweek sighed, raising up his arms to show off the sweater before letting them fall to his sides. “Did you _really_  have to do this?” He sits in between Jason and Craig, making sure to not show any preference as to not end up turning the other into a third-wheel. To no avail, Craig scoots beside Tweek to wrap his arm around him, prompting Jason to stand.

“Hey man, want me to make some coffee? I only have instant, so I can’t live up to your high quality standards,” Jason jokes, making his way into the kitchen.

Craig raises an eyebrow, taking this opportunity to one-up Jason.

“Oh? Does he not know that you’ve been trying to cut out coffee? I can’t believe he would fuel your addiction like that.”

“Addict… Oh, crap! You were trying to cut back on coffee?” Jason panics. He grabs a bottle of water from the fridge instead and hands it to Tweek. “Sorry, I didn’t know…”

“No, it’s not your fault,” Tweek assures, taking the bottle of water from Jason. “I never told you. Uh… the real reason I moved was not because of the artwork. My parents refused to move for that reason, actually. It’s just… uh…”

Having already known the story from texting Tweek about it days ago, Craig squeezed Tweek’s hand and nodded.

“Well… It’s a good thing you didn’t like our coffee very much, because… There was… something illegal being mixed in…”

Jason stared wide-eyed at Tweek, his mouth agape. He shut it closed and held his hand in the “stop” position. “Okay, well… That’s… I don’t really need to hear the rest.”

“Thank god, because I don’t really like bringing it up…”

“Anyway, your clothes should finish drying in a few minutes. So...” Jason pauses, watching Craig purposefully try to make eye contact with him as he turns Tweek’s head to face him by holding onto his chin, then kisses the corner of his lips, all while Tweek remained oblivious of his intentions. Tweek ended up turning away, eyeing Jason for a second in embarrassment.

Over by the sliding door to the backyard, a black and white border collie paws at the glass, whining to be let inside.

“Markie!” Tweek coos as he heads for the kitchen. Jason follows and allows Markie inside, who immediately jumps on his hind legs with his front paws on Tweek. Once Tweek kneels down to Markie’s level, he begins to bark excitedly and lick Tweek’s face.

From the couch, Craig stares at the dog, mesmerized by his fluffiness. Though guinea pigs were his all time favorite animal, furry dogs were a close second. If they weren’t such a handle and so expensive to raise, he would have loved to have a dog of his own.

Tweek notes Craig’s interest and waves him over. Craig hovers his hand above Markie’s head, who sits patiently, waiting for the stranger to pet him with great anticipation. Craig forces the urge to use his baby voice in front of the adorable dog as he petted him, which proved to be difficult once Markie looked up at him in adoration.

“Isn’t he cute, Craig?” Tweek asks, petting Markie’s back. “I always thought it would be cool to have a fully trained guard dog, but the sweet, fluffy ones are great too. You’re a good boy, aren’t you Markie?”

Markie barks happily in response, running around the boys. He runs towards the door that was left open, barking at the boys to follow and play with him until he was distracted by the sound of jingling keys unlocking the doorknob by the front entrance. Jason nearly snaps his neck from how fast he turns his head.

“Hey, uh… I’ll deliver your clothes tomorrow, so maybe you guys should…”

“Jason?” his mother’s voice calls out from the living room. “Markie’s being noisy today. Do you have friends over?”

It doesn’t take long for Tweek to see the issue. “We’ll go out back,” he whispers, motioning for Craig to follow with the wave of his hand. Tweek manages to sneak outside without being seen, but Craig is stopped by Markie, who blocked his path to play.

“Haven’t seen this one,” says his father, who was holding several bags of groceries. He places the bags on the kitchen counter and offers Craig an outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you, uh…”

Uncomfortable with the situation, Craig squeezes and shakes his hand for a split second, ending the interaction as quickly as possible. “Clyde,” he lies before shoving his hand in the pocket of the stolen sweatpants.

“He was just leaving, actually,” Jason interrupts as Craig walks toward the backyard fence to meet with Tweek. Curious, Jason’s father pokes his head to see where Craig was going, then frowns.

“What’s _he_ doing back here?” he spat, showing no mercy for Tweek, who was trying not to make eye contact.

Tweek stares down at the grass, ready for whatever string of insults comes his way. After remembering Jason’s story the previous day, there was no way that his parents would be happy to see him.

“Good afternoon, sir,” Tweek mumbles, eyes fixated on the dying grass he stood on. “I was just leaving.”

“Whatever could’ve possessed you to bring home the boy who destroyed your reputation with such sinful artwork is beyond me, Jason,” his mother sighs, shaking her head. “We thought you were through with him after not seeing his face for weeks, but here he is again.”

Craig snaps his head towards Jason, staring daggers into the boy. “You never told them that it wasn’t Tweek’s fault?!” he nearly screamed. If it wasn’t for the fact that Tweek had grabbed onto his arm and repeatedly told him to stop and that everything was okay, Craig would have tried to break Jason’s nose to make things right.

“I… I just…”

Jason switched back and forth from looking at his parents, who waited for his response, and Craig, who was ready to kill him. “I only found out yesterday, and…”

“You had a whole night to say something, then,” Craig refuted. He walks out the door and grabs Tweek’s hand, eliciting sharply raised brows from Jason’s parents. “He doesn’t care about your friendship enough to explain a misunderstanding to his parents, so we should just go, Tweek.”

“Wait!” Jason calls out.

Craig was ready to ignore him and take Tweek away, but Tweek stands in place, still holding onto the remaining hope he has for the boy he desperately wants to call his best friend.

Jason closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, then faces his parents.

“Tweek didn’t make the artwork. Some girl and her friends did because they thought we were a couple, but we’re not. We never were. I know I made a big deal out of it and accused him when I first found out, but I was wrong. I should have never done that. Tweek is my best friend, _only_ my best friend, and I should have never done that to him. I’m so sorry, so please don’t be mad at him anymore.”

His parents fell silent. They looked at each other, then to the boys, and then to the floor. Tweek slipped out of Craig’s grip and stood by Jason’s side, making sure to keep his distance when he smiled and thanked him. Jason nodded, smiled back, then anxiously waited for his parents’ response.

His father stared at Tweek, who tried to keep his composure, then turned to Craig. “Those two must be dating, aren’t they? No man grabs another’s hand unless they’re some kind of homosexual.”

“Dad, please don’t--”

“I won’t allow homosexuals under my roof, Jason. I want them to leave.”

“Fine. I don’t want to be around homophobes--” Craig retorts.

Tweek turns back to Craig on the last word, shaking his head quickly while mouthing out the words, “please don’t do it”.

His silent pleads are ignored. Craig proudly shows off his middle finger, enraging Jason’s parents until their faces reach a shade of beet red. Jason grabs Tweek by the wrist, opens the wooden gate, then pushes Tweek and Craig out of his backyard.

“I’ll come visit soon!” Jason calls out in a whisper loud enough for Tweek to hear from the other side of the fence.

Craig grabs Tweek’s hand once again, leading him to the bus stop a few blocks down. Tweek shows a worried glance in the direction of Jason’s house, hoping that he won’t meet the same fate as his brother after what happened. He knew he was being a bad friend for abandoning Jason in this kind of situation, but who knows what Craig would’ve done if he wasn’t removed from the scene. Worse case scenario, Craig didn’t take to kindly to those who insulted or tried to hurt him, so if the situation continued to escalate in the way that it did, he would certainly have ended up arrested.

* * *

The bus ride back to South Park was a quiet one with a heavy tension floating in the air. Craig knew it wouldn’t be appropriate to put his arm around Tweek or start a conversation to ease the tension. Tweek was staring at the open chat log between him and Jason on his phone, which left off from when they messaged each other about the river bank situation. He didn’t know whether or not to text Jason to see if he was okay, so he could only stare helplessly and sigh.

Suddenly, Tweek’s phone buzzes, but the chat log remains the same. He reads the notification on top of his screen before it disappears.

**Craig:** i feel bad for him, but his parents are assholes.

Tweek turned to him, blinked twice, then showed a small smile before turning back to his phone.

**Tweek:** They are, but you shouldn’t have aggravated them. He’s the one who will get in trouble because of you.  
**Craig:** can you tell him i’m sorry? i feel bad.  
**Tweek:** You should feel bad. But I’ll tell him.  
**Craig:** wait, I’ll tell him. give me your phone.

Tweek complies, though he doesn’t understand why Craig would ask to do such a thing. He hopes it’ll be Craig’s way of reconciling with Jason.

**Tweek (Craig):** sorry if you ended up getting in trouble because of us. you’re not that bad. -craig  
**Tweek (Craig):** i’m neutral about you.

“Geez, Craig. You’re ridiculous,” Tweek laughs as he pulls his phone out of Craig’s hands.

**Tweek:** Sorry about Craig. He’s warming up to you, so it’s a start. Also sorry that I couldn’t leave faster. You wouldn’t be in such a bad situation if it weren’t for me.

“Hey, don’t say that,” Craig assures calmly, patting Tweek’s head. “It’s not your fault that he has shitty parents. Also, he should’ve told them the truth sooner.”

“I know, but I mean…”

Tweek stares down at the unread messages. He assumes the worst is happening right now and is mentally berating himself for leaving Denver when his best friend needed him most. His fingers hover over the keyboard, debating on what he could say in this kind of situation. Nothing useful comes to mind, so he locks his phone and lies back in his seat.

“I’ll tell you what,” Craig begins, lying back in his seat as well. “If we don’t hear from him in an hour, text him again. If there’s no reply, we’ll come back tomorrow, okay?”

“We have school tomorrow, Craig.”

“So you wouldn’t skip school for your best friends? I mean, I’d skip school for you.”

Tweek paused at Craig’s words. He had an idea of what their relationship status was at this point, but he wasn’t completely positive about it. They confessed to each other a few hours ago. They even _kissed_. Where’s the misunderstanding here? Perhaps it was the “best friends” comment that was edging Tweek to ask.

“Hey, Craig?”

His hands leave his phone balancing on his thighs as he places them palms down on his seat. He leans forward, looking down at the hand closest to Craig’s.

Despite becoming used to grabbing Tweek’s hand, Craig touches his fingers to Tweek’s instead, almost shyly. “Yeah?” he answers, also looking down at their hands.

“I feel so stupid for wanting to ask this when the answer’s so obvious. I’m supposed to be worried about Jason right now.”

“No, go ahead and ask.”

Tweek hums nervously, his eyes fixated on their touching fingers. His past failed attempt at romance has left him unable to truly understand Craig’s intentions through his affections, so he can’t help but question whether Craig really means to be acting the way he is right now. Surely, someone who brings trouble everywhere he goes doesn’t deserve a shot at romance, right?

He shook his head. He’s not as bad a person as he thinks. He has friends who like him. Craig already told him what he thinks of him, and it’s not like he could lie while in such distress over their comically disastrous date. Craig thinks that he’s fun to be around. Craig thinks he’s interesting, for whatever reason. Craig’s impressed by his fighting skills.

On top of all of that, Craig thinks _he’s_ cute.

Tweek Tweak.

Can’t stay out of a fight. Can’t button his shirt properly. Can’t break his coffee addiction. Probably can’t even kiss properly.

“I like you, Craig,” Tweek mumbled. “I don’t want to tell you why when we’re in public, so, uh…”

There’s something more intimate about sitting close together with their fingers touching that makes Tweek’s heart flutter more than when they actually held hands. Even more than when they kissed. Maybe it’s the vulnerable position he’s in. The other bus passengers pay no mind to them, making Tweek feel like they’re the only riders on board. Neither he nor Craig make eye contact, yet they’re both looking at the same thing. Neither make an attempt to grab onto the other’s hand. They both sit in silence, with Craig waiting patiently for Tweek to continue.

Tweek traces a small area of the seam on the side of the much too large jeans he borrowed from Craig up and down. He keeps his other hand still, as he doesn’t know whether or not he wants to intertwine his fingers with Craig’s. Finally, he speaks up.

“If we start dating, I want to make sure you actually like me too, so...”

“Wait, what?” Craig asks abruptly, startling Tweek.

Tweek pulls his hand away, then scoots down to where there’s one seat between him and Craig.

“Sorry, that was stupid of me. Forget I said anything!”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Craig called out after him, grabbing him by the hand and scooting close. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I could’ve sworn that I told you how I felt about you already. Did I not… What did I say at the riverbank, then?”

“No, I was just thinking of something dumb,” Tweek tries to explain, holding up his free hand. “I remember what you said. I just found it hard to believe--”

“Well I meant what I said, and I don’t intend on repeating myself.”

Craig looked around at what appeared to be uninterested passengers.

“Not here, anyway. Or not for a while.”

He blushes, toying with the braid on his hat, but he doesn’t pull it down. He doesn’t understand why he’s being shy all of a sudden. Kissing Tweek on the side of his lips in front of Jason was easy due to his need to show off in that situation, but the mushy atmosphere clouding the air is making it difficult for him to act casually. Hana is nowhere in sight, so what’s the matter with him?

“Does… does that mean that you want to go out with me?” Tweek asks, now tugging at his borrowed t-shirt.

“Depends,” Craig tries his best to answer nonchalantly. “Is it cool if I call you my boyfriend?”

Now it’s Tweek’s turn to blush. He squeezes Craig’s hand and nods.

“I wouldn’t mind that at all,” he says.

“Okay, we got all the mushy shit out of the way. Now it’s time for me to do something really gay,” Craig suddenly brings up.

Tweek watches curiously as Craig scoots as close as possible. He pulls Tweek into his chest and hugs him tightly, relaxing as he nuzzles his face into Tweek’s shoulder.

“Hugs aren’t gay,” Tweek points out as he returns the hug.

“No, they’re not. I’m just freezing because you’re wearing my jacket right now, so I’m trying to sap your body heat.”

“AGH! I just remembered that you’re only wearing pajamas right now!”

Tweek pushes Craig back to remove the jacket, but Craig stops him by grabbing his shoulder.

“No, keep it on. It looks good on you.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I’m not soaked anymore, so I’m fine now.”

Tweek removes the jacket and hangs it over Craig’s shoulders. With his hands on the zippers, he pulls Craig down with the jacket and gives him a quick peck on the lips. The two lie back on their seats, hand in hand, staring ahead.

“Soooo…” Craig starts. “You wanna play video games or something? I’m confident that it’ll be the least dangerous activity we’ll do today.”

“That sounds good,” Tweek replies, smiling to himself. “You said you wanted to play Assassin’s Creed when you come over, right?”

Though the thought of bringing Craig over where his parents will gush over the pair didn’t seem all too pleasant for Tweek, he still had a lingering fear of Craig’s father, who he assumed didn’t like him.

Craig on the other hand lit up over Tweek inviting him over to his house. He was curious to see what kind of place he lived in, especially what his room looked like.

“Yeah, I did,” Craig agreed. “We can go to your place.”

* * *

 

Walking to the front door of the Tweak’s house hand-in-hand with his boyfriend might not have been the best idea for Tweek to have. From the sidewalk alone, he could see his parents standing in front of the window, beaming at the pair. They must have heard them chatting loudly and went to check it out, Tweek assumed. Craig wasn’t bothered by it, since the grip he had on Tweek’s hand didn’t loosen, so Tweek decided to walk confidently into his own home.

Of course, before he could even grab his key, the front door swung open. Before the couple stood Tweek’s parents, who were smiling widely at them.

“Welcome home, son!” Richard greeted. “I see you brought a special someone over today. I noticed you were dressed nicer than normal this morning, too.”

Tweek glances at Craig for a second, then looks down at the floor, losing all confidence to look his parents in the eye as he stands before them with his hand in his boyfriend’s.

“Yeah, uh… We’re just going to play video games in my room, so…”

“Sit and chat with us for a little while! We want to get to know your little boyfriend!” Richard suggests, stepping back to allow the boys to enter the house. “Helen, could you make us all some coffee?”

“Actually, Mrs. Tweak,” Craig interrupts. “Tweek and I would prefer some hot chocolate, if that’s okay.”

“No coffee, Tweek?” Helen asks, confused. “Did the coffee you drank this morning make you sick?”

Craig faces Tweek, raising an eyebrow at him. Tweek shrinks away, his head sinking into his shoulders. Leave it to his mother to expose his wrongdoings in front of Craig, though it’s not like he ever told his parents that he was trying to break away from coffee in the first place.

“No,” he answers. “I just feel like having hot chocolate, that’s all. Also, we really do just want to go play video games, so we’ll be in my room.”

“Alright, but remember to leave the door open!” Richard calls out to the boys with a wink as Tweek leads Craig by the hand upstairs.

“GAH! You’re so embarrassing, Dad!” Tweek shouts back, and out of spite, he shuts the door behind them.

Finally slipping out of Craig’s grip, Tweek sits on his bed, falls backward onto the mattress, then flips over to where his face is pressed into the sheets.

“Why did he have to go and say something like that?” Tweek complains, his voice muffled. “We’re not going to do whatever it is he’s thinking. Stupid Dad.”

Craig lies down next to him and stares at the ceiling.

“Wait, we’re not?” he jokes.

Tweek turns his head to face away from Craig.

“H-hey now… We’re only 15… That sort of thing is kind of--”

“I’m kidding,” Craig responds, patting Tweek’s back lazily while keeping his gaze on the ceiling.

“Right. Of course,” Tweek sighs in relief. He rolls over and sits up, then looks to Craig.

“You know what you need on your ceiling?” Craig asks.

“Glow in the dark stars?” Tweek answers, referencing what he had seen in Craig’s room the other day.

“Yeah, but in your case...”

Craig sits up and takes a look around. The first thing he noticed was that there was an abundance of toys related to architecture. One side of the wall is dedicated to various lego sculptures of buildings, bridges, roller coasters, and even weapons like swords and bows. A few lego people were also seen scattered around the area. There was even a pyramid of empty paper cups stacked to Tweek’s height.

In the corner was a three section bookshelf with several different kinds of books. The first row contained comic books. Some Craig could recognize were superhero comics, but the others were unknown to him. The next row had novels ranging from mystery to supernatural, many of which Tweek had recommended to Craig. The last had cookbooks and messily stuffed binders, which Craig wondered if those were pages of sheet music for the piano.

A pricy looking medium-sized widescreen television sat on a short dresser. Below it was a PS4 and an XBOX One with the controllers and wires strewn around without a care. The games were also stacked on top of them in a disorderly fashion, and Craig wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t in the correct cases.

By the closet was a basket of dirty clothes and two pairs of boxing gloves. The red ones looked like Tweek’s favorite, since they were more worn out. The gold and black ones looked brand new, almost like they were a gift that Tweek was trying to preserve. Though they were hardly scuffed from a most likely to be a one-time use, they weren’t showcased or protected like a gift, seeing how they were lying on the floor just like his red ones.

To the left of his closet and closest to his bed was his desk, where his desktop computer and his laptop both sat. There were also many handheld consoles such as a Nintendo Switch and a 3DS. Tweek had more video games and consoles than him and Clyde combined, and if his room were much more organized, Craig would’ve believed that he was in Token’s room.

“You could probably afford one of those really good at home planetarium projectors. You know, the ones that fill your entire room with stars. The good ones look more realistic because you can see constellations and clusters.”

“Sounds like you would want it more than me,” Tweek chuckles. “Once I get paid to work at my parents’ shop again, I might consider buying you one. If you’re good, that is.”

“If I’m good, huh? You say that like I get into trouble often.”

Tweek rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone.

“Out of the four disasters that happened today, two of them were your fault,” he pointed out as he reads a message that Jason sent him.

**Jason:** I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m definitely considering moving out, but I’m fine.  
**Jason:** Also tell Craig I said thanks, but say it really sarcastic.

“At least I didn't beat the shit out of some guy and get kicked out of a movie theater.”

“Hey! You said I was defending your honor!”

Craig leaned back, propping himself upright with his hands on the bed.

“You totally did,” he smiled. “I like watching you fight, babe.”

The boys blushed after realizing what Craig had just said. Neither of them have used or have been called by pet names outside of their mothers, so this was a new experience. For Tweek, any sign of affection will either go right over his head, or it will cause him to become extremely flustered depending on who’s giving the affection. In this case, Tweek will try to combat Craig’s affections with sarcasm to prevent him from becoming a stuttering mess.

For Craig, the very thought of turning into a sap would’ve made him want to throw up in disgust. In this case, he was feeling nauseous from embarrassment.

Pet names? Craig Tucker was using _pet names?_ Good thing they were in the safety of Tweek’s bedroom because if it turns out that someone was stalking their date, they couldn’t have been around to hear this. Unfortunately, once it was said, he couldn’t take it back.

“Babe?” Tweek repeated as he clutched his shirt, smiling to himself. “That’s… Who would’ve thought you were the mushy boyfriend type?”

“Oh, you’re going to make fun of me now?” Craig playfully sneered, pushing Tweek’s arm lightly. “How about you tell me why you like me like you said you would when we were on the bus?”

Tweek hummed thoughtfully, then lied back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling like Craig did earlier. Craig followed suit, lying next to Tweek, but he propped his head with his elbow and his arm as he rolled onto his side to face Tweek.

“I guess... it’s kind of similar to the same reasons that you like me. I think you’re fun and interesting too. I thought you were kind of rude when you kept staring me down when we first met, but after fighting alongside you and chatting with you for a little while, I thought you were alright. I thought we could be friends.”

He glanced at Craig from the corner of his eyes with a smile, folded his hands over his stomach, then closed his eyes. Craig could feel himself relaxing just from seeing how content Tweek looked.

“I’m really glad we were able to make up after that really dumb argument. I never should have blamed you, so I was determined to make it up to you by finding out what the deal was with the artwork and putting an end to it. Then we ended up texting during our time apart, and I just… I was happy, you know? I was in a bad place, a-and I texted Kenny a lot too, but it was different with you somehow. I… I looked forward to your messages.”

Tweek felt embarrassed during this honest hour, but he couldn’t stop sharing his thoughts. The words flowed out of him with no disregard to how the listener might perceive them, but Craig didn’t mind. He continued to watch Tweek babble about his feelings, and he became increasingly interested as Tweek went on.

“And seeing the artwork everywhere was definitely uncomfortable, but… I looked at some recently,” Tweek confessed. “Before and after breaking the spell, I thought… it would’ve been nice. I’ve never been in a relationship before, so having these kinds of thoughts and feelings… It’s different compared to when I saw the artwork with Jason. You didn’t shoot me down right away because you knew immediately that I was a victim too. Then yesterday, all that stuff at the park happened and I just…”

He sat up and buried his face in his hands to hide the blush that quickly spread all over his face. Craig sat up as well, finding amusement in Tweek’s cute reaction.

“Ahhhh, it’s embarrassing to think about! Hana sent me a painting she made of when we… kissed on the bench...”

“Oh, she sent me that too,” Craig admitted, pulling out his phone to show him the picture.

“Don’t show it to me!” Tweek whined, holding his hand in front of the phone’s screen. “Why was she spying on us, anyway? That girl is so obsessed!”

“You sure are fussy about the thought of us kissing when you kissed me on the bus not too long ago. Where did that confidence go?”

“It was a spur of the moment kind of thing! Don’t make fun of me!”

“So you’ll only kiss me if the mood is right, is that it?”

“Well… I mean…”

Craig placed a hand on Tweek’s cheek and brought their faces close together. What Craig originally thought to be dull green eyes looked more emerald up close. Tweek’s breath escaped his slightly parted lips and warmed the area around Craig’s lips as they sat only centimeters away.

“Is the mood right now?” Craig spoke softly, sending a shudder down Tweek’s body.

Tweek nodded, so Craig took the initiative and closed the gap between them. He tangled his fingers with both hands in Tweek’s hair, while Tweek, not knowing where to put his hands, settled for placing them on his shoulders. Like when they were at the park, Tweek ended up wrapping his arms around Craig’s neck, pulling him closer. He was startled when Craig suddenly nibbled on his bottom lip, but he allowed it, as well as the tongue that slipped into his mouth. Rather than questioning Craig’s experience with past girlfriends, as he remembered the conversation with Wendy’s friends, he hoped Craig wouldn’t notice his inexperience, seeing how he was unsure of how to follow along.

All of a sudden, Tweek pushed Craig off of him and pulled out his phone, though he was only staring at the lock screen. Craig looked at the phone as well, but he became confused when he realized that Tweek wasn’t looking at anything.

A knock on the door helped Craig understand the situation.

“Come in!” Tweek announced as his mother opened the door with two mugs of hot chocolate on a serving tray. He can see his father smiling behind her, and he prayed that they weren't listening in on them. Then again, hot chocolate shouldn’t have taken that long to make, so they were definitely listening in.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Helen greeted, putting on an innocent smile. “I brought hot chocolate for you two.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Tweek replied, matching her fake innocent smile with his own.

“Drink it before it gets cold!” said Richard, leaving the door open as the two left.

Tweek glared at the open door, so Craig stood to close it.

“We’re going to have to get used to that when we go to school tomorrow,” Craig reminded him. “You know, with that one video going around between Wendy’s friends and the Asian girls.”

“Ugh…” Tweek shuddered. “They’re gonna stare at us and start rumors again.”

“Okay, but like… We’re already dating, so what could they say that’s not already true?”

“Oh, good point. We are already dating.”

“Damn right we are.”

Craig grabs two pillows from Tweek’s bed and tosses them on the floor and in front of the television. He plops onto one of them, then pats his hand on the other, gesturing for Tweek to come over.

“Now turn on this expensive-looking TV and let’s play some video games like we planned to,” Craig ordered as Tweek hurried over with the tray of hot chocolate. He placed them next to Craig, who pushed them aside.

This was the only part of their date that didn’t go wrong, and Craig was prepared to throw it in Clyde and Tricia’s faces later that day.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left everyone, so please stick with me until the end! I'm happy that you all supported me up until now! Like always, I hope you all enjoyed!


	10. Just Couple Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a miracle! We’re finally at the end! I hope you enjoyed this wild ride with me! This is just going to be a fluffy chapter to end all the drama, so I hope you’ll like it. Thank you everyone for your support!

**Clyde** : dude are you home yet??? how was it??????  
**Tricia** : where are you fucker. Clyde’s here looking for you.   
**Tricia** : also mom says use protection if you’re gonna spend the night at Tweek’s.  
**Clyde** : my dude if you guys are dating now you are obligated to tell me first so I can tell the other guys!!!  
**Kenny** : you didn’t text me back dude. you guys getting nasty rn or do I gotta kick Craig’s ass?  
**Kenny** : cuz I’ll do it. not gonna let Craig fucker hurt my boi

The boys had to pause their game to watch their phones buzz with every new message. While Tweek texted back Kenny to reassure him that everything was fine without setting himself up for any more sexual comments, Craig left his sister and best friend on read. There was one message that he reread, however.

_ “Use protection if you’re gonna spend the night at Tweek’s.” _

What exactly was his mother insinuating? Not that he ever thought he would be that kind of guy in his lifetime, but he wasn’t the type of guy to sleep with someone on the first date. Hell, he was 15! He shouldn’t be thinking about that kind of thing anyway!

Lucky for him, Tweek was focused in his own conversation. Flustered by, actually, since he happened to be getting romance tips from Kenny to “set the mood”. Craig watched Tweek counter Kenny’s dirty sense of humor with rapid fire texting speed from the corner of his eye, wondering if he’s creating several typos as his fingers tap the screen.

Suddenly, Tweek stopped typing, his fingers hovering over the screen. He turned to Craig curiously, catching the boy off guard.

“Would you be mad if I told Kenny that we’re dating now?”

“Do you really need my permission?” Craig asks.

“Not really,” Tweek replies, staring back at his phone. “I just wanted to know if you planned on telling people. Did  _ you _ tell anybody yet?”

“Clyde’s asking, but I left him on read. I might tell him tomorrow, since he’ll harass me if I don’t. Is there a specific way you wanted to go about telling people?”

“I don’t know. I just assumed that people would find out on their own, and we would confirm it if they asked.”

Craig placed his phone face down and held the controller in front of Tweek, gesturing for them to continue the game. Tweek nodded, prompting Craig to unpause the game. 

“Are you like… into PDA or something?” Tweek asked suddenly. “I mean, you don’t seem like the clingy type, but you do have a problem with jealousy.”

“First of all, I do not have a jealousy problem,” Craig began, his eyes still on the game.

“Debatable, but continue,” said Tweek.

“As for PDA…”

Craig didn’t actually know the answer to that. With all of his previous girlfriends, he allowed them to do as they wished, be it holding hands, kissing in public, whatever. Then again, he was never the one initiating those actions, mainly because he didn’t care for those girls at all.

Then Tweek came along, and all Craig could think about was touching him, holding his hand, holding him close, and kissing his stupid face. These thoughts popped up every now and then during their artwork investigation days, but ever since that one moment on that park bench, those thoughts consumed him. He had to go the extra mile just to prevent himself from daydreaming about doing those things with Tweek while in front of other people.

Now the question stands: would he display his affection for Tweek publically? He doesn’t even know where Tweek stands on the issue. He seemed shy when Craig kissed the corner of his lips in front of Jason, but to be fair, the whole situation was uncomfortable for him to begin with. Then there was the whole bus ride that was just full of romantic moments, and Tweek didn’t seem to mind kissing him in front of inattentive passengers, so there was that. 

“What are your thoughts?” Craig asked. “Do  _ you _ mind it?”

Blushing lightly, Tweek hummed as he recalled many of the day’s intimate interactions. He’s happy when he’s close to Craig, and even sitting next to him while playing video games makes his heart flutter. Now he has to decide if he wants to receive affectionate gestures in front of his friends? That’s a lot of pressure!

What did Craig have in mind when he brought up PDA, Tweek wondered. Walking around while holding hands? In front of people he knew? Flirting? In front of people he knew?? Did he even know  _ how  _ to flirt??? Will he have to start using pet names  _ too _ ?!!

“Tweek, holy shit dude, calm down!” Craig panicked, grabbing the vibrating Tweek by the shoulders. “We don’t have to do anything like that if you don’t want to!”

Blinking rapidly, Tweek assessed his situation. It’s not that he  _ didn’t _ want to do those things with Craig, but being an awkward, hormonal, and inexperienced teenager in love makes him less calm about the thought of it. 

“I… don’t mind it,” he answered, smiling nervously at Craig. “We can hold hands and stuff, I guess.”

“I’m fine with that,” Craig replied, releasing Tweek from his grip. “I was actually going to ask if you’d be okay with walking to school together. I’ll pick you up at your place tomorrow at eight. Sound good?”

“Yes!” Tweek nearly shouted. He lowered his voice after realizing what he had done. “Sorry, uh… I would like that, I meant to say.”

He turned back to the television and picked up his controller.

“Do you want to play one more round of Overwatch, or do you want to head home? It’s getting late,” Tweek pointed out, turning to the dark sky outside his window.

From looking at the time at his phone, Craig noticed that it was already ten. He didn’t realize how much time had passed by, even though so many crazy things happened in a single day.

“Sure, I can kick your ass one last time,” he teased.

“Whatever, dude,” Tweek laughed, pushing Craig’s arm and knocking him over slightly.

* * *

Tweek woke up in a daze, staring at the ceiling. He had woken up an hour earlier than the time Craig said he’d pick him up, giving him time to get ready without rushing. A goofy grin stretched across his face as he thought about being greeted by his boyfriend first thing in the morning.

_ Couples send “good morning” texts, don’t they? _ Tweek wondered, his fingers touching his iPhone on his bedside table. He held the phone above his face and opened up Craig’s chat, debating on whether to send him one. He’s done so before, back when he was waiting in line for a game with Kenny, but he called him an asshole out of endearment. 

_ Maybe I should say something nicer? _

**Tweek** : Good morning Craig...

He stared at the blinking line at the end of his message, waiting for him to continue.  _ Maybe call him something more romantic? _

**Tweek** : Good morning honey…

_ No, too much. Should I call him “babe” like he did to me yesterday, or would that be weird? _

**Tweek** : Good morning...

_ Aghh! Why is this so much pressure?! Just be yourself!! _

**Tweek** : Morning, nerd.

After several typos and instances of backspace button abuse, he hit send before he could take it back. Being himself felt right. Forcing himself to behave a certain way just because of their newly established relationship seemed like too much trouble. Plus, he could ease into it at his own pace. No need to act all mushy right off the bat, though it’s not like he was against it.

_ I like watching you fight, babe. _

Craig Tucker is secretly a romantic person. Who knew? Certainly not Tweek, so hearing Craig call him “babe” in that monotone voice of his was definitely an interesting experience, to say the least. He began to wonder if Craig was like that with the other people that he dated.

“ _ Isn’t big on communication”. “Never crack him”. “Not really interested in them”. “Keeps breaking up with all his girlfriends because he thinks they’re too lame”.  _ That’s what he remembered from the conversation between Wendy and her friends the day he and Craig argued about the artwork. From that alone, Tweek could conclude that Craig was, in no way, the romantic type with anyone else.

Realizing this, he began to grin widely until his cheeks hurt. The only person who managed to crack Craig Tucker was him. Hana and her friends’ artwork played a part in this, but still! By some kind of miracle, his personality managed to win over Craig. Not that Craig was some super cool guy that everyone fell in love with or anything. Craig Tucker was a huge fucking nerd, but being able to see that side of him made Tweek feel special.

When did he fall so hard for Craig? Do people really fall in love in the course of a week? Apparently so, since at the moment, no one could make him feel as giddy as Craig did. That stupid artwork situation was a thing of the past, and Tweek was ready to fully accept that he had the biggest crush on Craig Tucker, who happened to like him back. Is this what requited love feels like? Tweek was too happy to care.

Tweek sprung for the phone he had tossed on his bed when he heard his phone ding. To his surprise, it wasn’t Craig replying to his morning greeting. It wasn’t even a text. It was a snapchat message from Wendy, who had convinced him to download the app for the sake of taking and sharing cute selfies.

Confused, Tweek stared at the little blue chat symbol by Wendy’s name. He clicked on it, which revealed the following messages:

**Wendy** : I had nothing to do with this.  
**Wendy** : This time, anyway.

The next snap was a video. With lips pressed together, eyebrows raised, and eyes looking to her right, Wendy looked mildly guilty of something. That, or she’s seeing something that Tweek wouldn’t appreciate. He reluctantly watches it, only to narrow his eyes in annoyance ten seconds in.

“So… I’m at school right now, and…”

Switching to the back camera on her phone, Wendy shows what has covered the walls of the school. The artwork was back, only now they all revolved around the park incident and his date with Craig. Some were anime-styled interpretations of the events, and others were wildly exaggerated sexual versions.

“PC Principal allowed them to be hung up as a way to promote ‘healthy homosexual relationships’. I told him you wouldn’t appreciate it, but he said if you had a problem, you should come down and tell him yourself. Sorry about that! If it’s any consolation, it looks like you guys had a great time!”

The video cut off there. Tweek tossed the phone back onto the bed, lied back, then flipped over to where he was lying on his stomach.

“Great!” he shouted into the pillow, though only a muffled voice could be heard. “Now Craig’s going to see it, then he’s going to be embarrassed about it, and then he won’t want to be seen with me in public again. We’re going to have to sneak around in private again. That’s just fucking fantastic!”

Another ding. Part of Tweek hoped it was Craig replying to his greeting, but the other part didn’t want to find out if Craig knew what was going on at the school. If he could walk to school with Craig remaining oblivious at least up until they entered the building, that would be all he needed before things go downhill. Holding his breath, Tweek opened up the message.

**Craig** : morning fucker.

Sighing in relief, Tweek went back to lovestruck mode. He rolled onto his back and held the phone above his face to reply.

**Tweek** : If anyone’s a fucker, it’d be you, Craig Fucker.

_ God, that was clever _ , Tweek thought to himself, despite that being Kenny’s joke from the night prior. Not that it mattered. Tweek liked the playful banter between himself and Craig. It was much less nerve-wracking than acting romantic, which nearly puts him into cardiac arrest just thinking about it.

Having a crush is just too much pressure.

* * *

**Craig** : i’m outside.  
**Tweek** : I’ll be right there!

Craig sent that almost ten minutes ago. Not that he cared for punctuality, but what was Tweek doing that was taking so long? He was tempted to ring the doorbell, but he didn’t want to have to talk to Tweek’s overbearing parents. They might try to probe into their relationship or something.

_ “Oh, some girls were drawing us being gay together, so we just decided to roll with it.” _

That’s what he planned on saying if he was ever asked how the relationship started. Sure, there were a million other factors that played a part, but he wasn’t going to list them all. Keep it vague, simple, boring. Don’t give people the satisfaction of knowing more. That’s the motto he lived by.

Then again, there’s the matter of Tricia, and to a lesser extent Clyde, knowing the entire story. And probably Hana, Wendy, and if Tweek’s been keeping them updated, Jason and Kenny. At this point, he didn’t care if they told people. Less work for him. He planned on ignoring everybody anyway.

8:10. Fifteen minutes have passed now. Craig walked up to the front door and pressed his ear to it, trying to figure out what could be going on in there. He could hear an annoyed Tweek whining about being late and his unnaturally calm parents bombarding him with relationship questions. From the sound of the doorknob rattling, followed by a man’s voice, Craig could guess that his father was blocking the door with his body.

“It’s not that big of a deal! Come on, I have to leave!” he heard Tweek say from the other side of the door.

“You’re so stubborn, Tweek. We just want to know what kind of guy he is so we can support you,” said Richard.

“You’ve been much happier when you came to this town. Did you meet him online? Did you know he lived here before we moved? We want to hear how it all happened!” said Helen.

_ Guess I should save him, _ Craig thought. Taking a step back, he knocked on the door, prepared to dodge any unnecessary questions aimed at him. The less these people know about him, the better.

“Oh hello, Craig!” Richard greeted, holding the door open for Craig. “Tweek, why didn’t you say he was waiting for you? We would have let you go.”

“That’s what ‘I have to leave’ meant, Dad,” Tweek complained, lowering his eyes into a glare. Craig noted this as him not being too fond of his parents, or at least him not liking how nosy they’re being. 

Tweek slipped past his father and grabbed Craig by the wrist, dragging him away from the house. He ignored his parents, who were shouting “good luck” and “we’re proud of you” as they left.

“God, why are they like this?” Tweek huffed. “They’re so obsessed with us. Sorry, they were holding me up.”

“That’s okay. They’re gone now.”

Craig wriggled his wrist out of Tweek’s grip to hold his hand properly, intertwining their fingers. Noticing this, Tweek smiled at him and held his hand tighter.

Tweek was suddenly reminded of Wendy's video. He glanced nervously at Craig, who caught his eye.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. 

Fuck Snapchat and it’s inability to replay videos sent by other people. It would’ve been easier for Tweek to just show Craig the video rather than explain the situation himself.

“Turns out you were right about the whole, ‘people freaking out about the park video’ thing. I don’t know how many people saw it, but the Asian girls definitely got their hands on it.”

“Oh no,” was all Craig could say to that. 

“The artwork is back.”

“I’m honestly not surprised.”

“Yeah, so…”

Tweek stared at their intertwined hands longingly, knowing that it’ll end very soon.

“If you don’t want to be seen with me, that’s fine…”

“Don’t go putting lies in my mouth.”

Craig gave Tweek’s hand a small squeeze.

“If I didn’t want to be seen with you, I wouldn’t have asked you out in the first place.”

At first, Tweek stared at Craig, surprised and touched by his response. Then, impulsively, he stood on his toes and gave Craig a quick peck on the lips.

“You better get used to this, then,” he grinned, though he was screaming inside for suddenly being so bold.

Unlike Tweek, Craig didn’t keep his embarrassment inside. He cursed himself for not being able to control his blush and tried to hide it with his hat.

“Fuck, dude… You can’t just…”

Mimicking Tweek, Craig quickly dove in for a kiss that was only slightly longer. Flustered, Tweek stepped back and made a useless attempt to hide his blush by trying to pull his sweater over his face.

“Geez,” Tweek laughed under his sweater. “Control yourself, Tucker!”

“Sorry,” Craig grinned, pushing his hat back up. “Would it be better if I kissed my fist and punched you with it?”

Tweek did as Craig described and lightly pressed his fist to Craig’s lips. The boys laughed until a familiar voice interrupted them.

“What are you gays doing?” Clyde smirked. He had arrived with Kenny, who was giggling while recording the interaction.

“Quit recording, Mc _ Whore _ mick,” Craig huffed, flipping him off.

“If you’re not nice to me, I won’t give you my blessings to marry my boy,” Kenny joked, zooming in on Craig’s face.

“Marry? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Craig questioned, rolling his eyes as a faint tint of red appeared on his cheeks. 

“If you guys get married, do you want to have a double wedding?” Clyde asked. “Actually, Bebe said she and Wendy want to get married at the same time, so triple wedding? Do those get really crazy?”

“Stop talking about weddings!” Tweek whined, balling his fists. He turned and started walking towards the school, prompting Craig to follow and take his hand again.

Clyde and Kenny watched instead of following them, snickering at the two. Kenny fast forwarded his video and showed the part where he zoomed in on Craig’s expression after hearing the word “marry”, causing Clyde to hold his stomach as he fell into a fit of giggles.

“Look at him!” Clyde laughed, pointing at Craig’s face. “He’s so embarrassed! It’s so funny seeing him blush like that!”

“We can use it for blackmail!” Kenny suggested. 

“Ohhhh! Kenny, you’re terrible, but that’s such a good idea!”

Craig and Tweek could hear their loud, obnoxious laughter from afar as they continued walking away from the two.

“We’re going to have to deal with that often, aren’t we?” Tweek wondered, looking back at them for a moment.

“You say that like we’re not gonna see some crazy shit when we get to school,” Craig pointed out.

* * *

As they reached the front doors, they could hear giggles and squeals coming from inside the building. They could see several girls, many of which being the Asian girls, pressed up against the windows of the school, cooing at the couple holding hands. Though reluctant to enter, they looked at each other for confirmation.

“Ready?” Craig asked.

“They can already see us, so we might as well,” Tweek noted, pointing at the girls.

Tweek slipped his hand out of Craig’s and stared at the door. Confused, Craig stared at Tweek, wondering why he wasn’t moving.

“Aren’t you going to open the door for me?” Tweek joked, putting on a serious face and tone to trick Craig.

“I thought the point of having a boyfriend meant that you would open doors for  _ me _ ,” Craig replied, using an equally serious tone.

“So you’re the girlfriend in this relationship?”

“Well we’re both the boyfriend, so who opens the door?”

“Will one of you open the fucking door already?!”

The couple turned to see an angry and wet Cartman glaring at them. Behind him was Stan and Kyle, who both had tears in their eyes and smiles stretched so far, it could break their faces.

“The fuck happened to you?” Craig asked, pointing at the giant stain on Cartman’s sweater.

“Who cares? Move, gaywads!”

Cartman pushed past them and entered the building. When the doors shut closed, Stan and Kyle lost their composure and burst into laughter, slapping their legs and holding each other up by their shoulders.

“Okay, dude,” Stan tried to say, but he continued to giggle. “It’s not… hehe… It’s not that funny anymore.”

“He fucking missed the last step on the bus when he was making fun of me and fell face first into a puddle!” Kyle cried, holding his stomach as he laughed louder. “How is that not hilarious?!”

Craig and Tweek decided to leave the boys to their fun and walked into the school. Just as Wendy described, the halls, lockers, and walls were decorated with artwork. When she spotted them, Hana walked up to them with another Asian girl, who was clutching a cheap blue folder in her hands with a shy smile.

“Go on,” said Hana. “They’re nice. I’m sure they’ll like it!”

The girl handed the folder to them, startling Tweek in the process from how quickly she shoved it in front of him.

“I’ve gotten so much praise by using you two as my muses! I’ve compiled my favorite pieces that I’ve made yesterday. Please, take them!”

“Oh… Thanks…” Tweek said, taking the folder from her and nodding.

The girl stared curiously at them. She faced Hana and tilted her head, and Hana answered with a nod. 

“Aren’t you going to look at them?” Hana asked. She grabbed the folder, opened it, and placed it back in Tweek’s hand. “She worked hard on them.”

The girls looked up at them with puppy-dog eyes. Fearing another possible curse, Tweek did as he was told and pulled out a stack of printed digital works. Hana stood beside him and began naming the titles.

“This one is called ‘Sunset Love’,” she explained, pointing at a drawing of Tweek pinning Craig to the ground. It resembled the scene where he tackled Craig at the park for trying to attack Jason, and while Jason was in the picture, he was faceless and was watching Tweek grinning devilishly while on top of Craig. It was much more sexually exaggerated than the two remembered.

“Why am I on the bottom?” Craig asked, pointing at himself in the picture.

“Because that’s how it happened,” Tweek reminded him. “Not what  _ really  _ happened!” he frantically directed at the girl. “I didn’t make that face! But the tackling thing happened.”

Hana switched to the next one, called “Sweet Lips”, which showed their amusement park date. Craig, who was sparkling with good looks for some reason, was feeding a blushing, cutesy looking Tweek cotton candy.

“I have never made that face in my life,” Tweek pointed out. “And Craig isn’t that attractive.”

“We both know that’s not true,” Craig interjects. “Thank you for highlighting my features with sparkles, uh…”

“Lisa!” the girl answers, beaming at them. She pulls out her phone and begins texting her friends about Craig’s comment, which led to several of them turning around and facing him from different areas of the hallway.

Realizing his mistake, Craig grabbed Tweek’s arm and tugged lightly.

“Oh man, I almost forgot! Tweek, Token and Jimmy wanted to meet with us, remember?”

“You’re right!” Tweek agreed, playing along. “Sorry, I can’t believe I forgot!”

He handed Lisa the folder, but she held her hands in front of her and shook her head.

“No, these are for you! I want you to keep them! Make sure to look at ‘Creek Love’ and ‘Lights Off’!”

Smiling awkwardly, Tweek let out a small noise of agreement and followed Craig towards the bathroom. Upon arrival, they ran into all of their friends, who were all huddled around Clyde and his phone.

“ _ I take it that you guys are dating? Maybe we are. Do you plan on getting in between our relationship? _ ”

“Wow, Craig really said that?” Butters asked.

“Are they gonna f-fuh-fight?” Jimmy wondered, getting excited.

Clyde shushed them with the wave of his hand, and the boys continued to watch. Tweek looked at Craig, who was staring daggers at them with his hands in his pockets.

“ _ If you hurt him again, I’ll kill you.” _

A round of whistling and howling erupted from the group, followed by excessively loud laughter.  

“We got a badass over here!” Kenny laughed, turning to the unamused Craig. As the rest of the group acknowledged the couple, they toned down their laughter, reducing it to small, poorly suppressed snickers.

“We’re not laughing because you’re gay,” Token tried to explain.

“We’re laughing because that was the cheesiest we’ve ever seen you,” Kyle admitted.

“I may be cheesy, but at least I’m not single,” Craig retorted, earning another round of obnoxious hollering.

Insulted, Kyle balled his fists with a glare and exited the bathroom without a word. Stan, Butters, and Kenny followed, and Kenny hi-fived Craig on the way out. 

“Delete the video,” Craig glared at Clyde, who was facing him with a stupid grin.

“I’m not afraid of you, dude,” said Clyde, who rolled his eyes at him.

“Delete it, or…”

Craig motioned for Tweek to stand next to him by looking at him, then at the space beside him. When Tweek arrived, Craig wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“ _ Tweek _ will kick your ass.”

“I just might,” Tweek agreed. He smiled up at Craig, then faced Clyde with a confident smirk.

Clyde, knowing damn well what Tweek was capable of, deleted every trace of the video on his phone, even going as far as deleting it from Bebe’s messages. Craig turned to Token, who took Clyde’s phone and confirmed the deletion.

“Now leave so we can make out in here.”

“Oh my  _ god _ , Craig,” Tweek whined, though to keep up the act, he placed a hand on his chest rather than backing away.

“Gross,” said Token. “Come on, guys.”

As they left, the couple could hear Jimmy and Token poking fun at Clyde for being afraid of Tweek. Clyde denied this, though they all knew it was true.

“I’m not going to make out with you in a bathroom,” Tweek complained once the bathroom cleared out. “That’s gross.”

“I know. I just wanted them to leave.”

They smiled at each other and, with the same idea in mind, leaned in for a brief kiss.

“We make a good team,” Tweek noted, grinning widely.

“Quite the adventure getting to this point, so I’d be damned if I didn’t want to make this work.”

Chuckling, Tweek playfully pushed Craig on the chest.

“Ready to face more unnecessarily sexual artwork and overly personal comments?”

“Right behind you, babe.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Being in a long-term relationship makes me miss the good old days of high school crushes, first date butterflies, and newly established relationship confusions. I just had to push those feelings onto my boys, being a hopeless romantic myself! I hope the fluff wasn’t too unbearable! As always, thank you guys so very much for reading! Thank you all so much for sticking with me until the end!


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